Re-evaluating National Suicide Prevention Month: Strategic Timing and Enhanced Impact

Abstract

Awareness months are used as promotion strategies to enhance public health through increasing knowledge and behavioral change, including suicide prevention. However, given epidemiologic evidence and the historical impact of awareness months on health behaviors, the purpose of this paper is to encourage reconsideration of the current timing of suicide prevention month. In the U.S., most suicide deaths occur in May. The original National Suicide Prevention Week was established in May 1974 by the American Association of Suicidology. In the early 2000s, this week was moved to September to align with a global effort by the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organization, establishing September 10th as World Suicide Prevention Day and September as National Suicide Prevention Month. This commentary reviews evidence around awareness months/weeks/days and provides a brief history of suicide prevention awareness wee development, inviting a deeper consideration of the timing of National Suicide Prevention Week with epidemiologic trends in suicide attempts and deaths. Specifically, if calendar-anchored campaigns successfully increase awareness and behavior change, then perhaps the placement of National Suicide Prevention Month in September is not maximizing benefit in the U.S. because epidemiologic evidence suggests suicides peak in late spring/early summer, making this a potentially better time to increase awareness campaigns. By aligning the awareness month with the peak of the phenomenon, enhanced suicide prevention awareness could reduce suicide attempts and deaths. Re-scheduling this effort would require nationwide coordinated conversations with stakeholder groups, including non-profit advocacy organizations, loss survivors, researchers, prevention programs, and care agencies.

Keywords: awareness campaigns; epidemiology; health promotion; mental health awareness; public health; seasonality of suicide; suicide prevention; vulnerable populations.