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. 2024 Jun 14;24(1):444.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-05905-x.

Change in attitudes after a suicide prevention media campaign in the Mid-Norway region

Christine Mohn  1   2 , Egil Haga  3 , Hanne Sofie Wernoe Nilsson  3   4 , Jane Pirkis  5 , Lars Mehlum  3
Affiliations

Change in attitudes after a suicide prevention media campaign in the Mid-Norway region

Christine Mohn et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Suicide prevention media campaigns are one way of reaching people at increased suicide risk who would otherwise not seek help. This is the first study of a Norwegian campaign directed both at individuals at risk for suicide and at their social network.

Methods: We evaluated a media campaign consisting of outdoor posters, feature articles, film clips, and online banners in print, digital, and social media spread across the Mid-Norway region in late autumn 2022. This campaign material consisted of information about how to seek help for suicide thoughts and mental health problems and how to help a friend in similar situations. Before and after this campaign, 1149 adult individuals living in Mid-Norway participated in a survey on attitudes to suicide, mental ill health, and help-seeking.

Results: There were only marginal changes in attitudes and help-seeking literacy after the campaign. This result was sustained when controlling for age, sex, and campaign visibility. For males, there were a few changes in the negative direction, i.e. lack of willingness to seek help from family and friends, after the campaign.

Conclusion: We conclude that the campaign did not seem to have the desired effect and suggest ways of improving future regional Norwegian media campaigns.

Keywords: Help-seeking; Mental health stigma; Public campaign; Suicide; Suicide prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

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