Effective Way to Prevent Suicide Tested

Keeping in touch with people who have tried to kill themselves is a cheap-but-effective way of heading off further suicide attempts, Australian researchers say.

A study of 2,000 people in Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, Iran and China shows the low-cost strategy can significantly reduce the risk of suicides, said study co-author Diego De Leo, director of the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention.

The study found that subsequent suicide deaths were reduced from 2.2 percent in people treated with usual care to 0.2 percent in those given extra contact.

The intervention included a one-hour information session about suicidal behaviors, risk factors, constructive coping strategies and referral options. The program also included nine follow-up phone calls or visits by a health professional for 18 months following the patient’s discharge from an emergency department.

“Many suicidal patients lack good communication and relationships within their family and with other people,” the researchers said in a statement.

The study, published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, said one advantage of intervention is that it requires minimal training or extra resources and is therefore suitable for implementation in poor and middle-income countries.