Background
Preventing suicide in the community
Social support in preventing suicide
Suicide prevention campaign R U OK?Day
Method
Data sources
Data analysis
Results
2014a (N = 2000) weighted | 2017 (N = 2013) unweighted | 2017 (N = 2013) weighted | 2016 census datab | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n | % of total sample | n | % of total sample | Weighted n | Weighted % | % of total Australian population | |
Gender | |||||||
Female | 1013 | 50.6 | 1039 | 51.6 | 1021 | 50.7 | 50.7 |
Male | 987 | 49.4 | 974 | 48.4 | 992 | 49.3 | 49.3 |
Age group | |||||||
16–24 | 330 | 16.5 | 219 | 10.9 | 300 | 14.9 | 15.7 (15–24) |
25–34 | 342 | 17.1 | 366 | 18.2 | 372 | 18.5 | 17.7 |
35–44 | 353 | 17.7 | 381 | 18.9 | 337 | 16.7 | 16.5 |
45–54 | 340 | 17.0 | 367 | 18.2 | 329 | 16.3 | 16.3 |
55–64 | 288 | 14.4 | 307 | 15.3 | 291 | 14.5 | 14.4 |
65+ | 347 | 17.3 | 373 | 18.5 | 384 | 19.1 | 19.3 |
Geographical location | |||||||
Metropolitan | 1280 | 64.0 | 1429 | 71.0 | 1542 | 76.6 | 67.0 |
Non-metropolitan | 720 | 36.0 | 584 | 29.0 | 471 | 23.4 | 33.0 |
Awareness of, and participation in, the R U OK?Day campaign
Awareness | Participation | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Participants in 2014a (N = 2000) | Participants in 2017 (N = 2013) | Percent difference [95% CI] | p value | Participants in 2014a (N = 2000) | Participants in 2017 (N = 2013) | Percent difference [95% CI] | p-value | |||||
n | % | n | % | % | n | % | n | % | % | |||
Gender | ||||||||||||
Female | 731 | 72.2 | 847 | 82.9 | 10.7 [7.1–14.3] | < .001 | 144 | 19.7 | 268 | 31.6 | 11.9 [8.1–15.6] | < .001 |
Male | 582 | 59.0 | 715 | 72.1 | 13.1 [8.9–17.2] | < .001 | 106 | 18.2 | 226 | 31.6 | 13.4 [9.6–17.1] | < .001 |
Age group | ||||||||||||
16–24 | 255 | 77.3 | 250 | 83.2 | 5.9 [–.04–12.0] | .028 | 67 | 26.3 | 93 | 37.3 | 11.0 [3.7–18.2] | .001 |
25–34 | 232 | 67.8 | 282 | 75.9 | 12.8 [6.1–19.4] | .009 | 67 | 28.9 | 117 | 41.3 | 12.4 [5.4–19.2] | < .001 |
35–44 | 225 | 63.7 | 258 | 76.5 | 12.8 [6.0–19.5] | < .001 | 33 | 14.7 | 78 | 30.4 | 15.7 [9.5–21.8] | < .001 |
45–54 | 222 | 65.3 | 267 | 81.1 | 15.8 [9.2–22.3] | < .001 | 35 | 15.8 | 75 | 28.2 | 12.4 [6.1–18.6] | < .001 |
55–64 | 196 | 68.1 | 220 | 75.5 | 7.4 [0.1–14.6] | .022 | 34 | 17.3 | 61 | 27.7 | 10.4 [3.6–17.1] | .002 |
65+ | 183 | 52.7 | 286 | 74.5 | 21.8 [14.9–28.5] | < .001 | 14 | 7.7 | 70 | 24.5 | 16.8 [11.6–21.9] | < .001 |
Geographical location | ||||||||||||
Metropolitan | 830 | 64.8 | 1179 | 76.4 | 11.6 [8.2–15.0] | < .001 | 167 | 20.1 | 385 | 32.7 | 12.6 [9.4–15.8] | < .001 |
Non-metropolitan | 483 | 67.1 | 383 | 81.4 | 14.3 [9.3–19.1] | < .001 | 83 | 17.2 | 110 | 28.6 | 11.4 [6.5–16.4] | < .001 |
Total | 1313 | 65.7 | 1562 | 77.6 | 11.9 [9.1–14.7] | < .001 | 250 | 19.0 | 494 | 31.6 | 12.6 [9.93–15.25] | < .001 |
Campaign awareness and participation and help-seeking
Variable | 2017 participants (N = 2013) n (%) | Not aware (N = 451) n (%) | Aware (N = 1562) n (%) | Aware and participated (N = 494) n (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|
12-month help-seeking from a mental health professional | ||||
Sought help | 331 (16.4) | 38 (8.5) | 152 (14.2) | 141 (28.5) |
Didn’t seek help | 1616 (80.3) | 387 (85.8) | 890 (83.3) | 339 (68.6) |
Rather not say | 66 (3.3) | 26 (5.7) | 26 (2.5) | 14 (2.8) |
Intentions to help a close friend who might be troubled | ||||
Intend to help | 1700 (84.4) | 337 (74.7) | 921 (86.2) | 442 (10.7) |
No action intended | 314 (15.6) | 114 (25.3) | 147 (13.8) | 53 (89.3) |
Intentions to help close friend who is obviously troubled | ||||
Recommended action | 1854 (92.1) | 384 (85.3) | 1012 (94.8) | 458 (92.6) |
Non-recommended action | 159 (7.9) | 66 (14.6) | 56 (5.2) | 37 (7.4) |
Reaching out/helping offered in past month | ||||
Help offered | 1601 (79.5) | 309 (68.5) | 824 (77.1) | 469 (94.8) |
No help offered | 412 (20.5) | 142 (31.5) | 244 (22.9) | 26 (5.2) |
M (SD) | M (SD) | M (SD) | M (SD) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Belief in importance of asking | 5.91 (3.30) | 5.45 (3.11) | 6.05 (3.25) | 6.05 (3.54) |
Belief in ease of asking | 6.03 (2.76) | 5.53 (2.65) | 5.96 (2.78) | 6.64 (2.71) |
Campaign exposure predicting helping intentions and helping behaviour
Predictor variable | Intentions to help close friend who might be troubled | Intentions to help close friend who is obviously troubled | Helping behaviour/reaching out to someone who might be troubled | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B (SE) | Odds ratio [95% CI] | B (SE) | Odds ratio [95% CI] | B (SE) | Odds ratio [95% CI] | |
Sex | ||||||
Male (ref) | ||||||
Female | .335 (.129)** | 1.398 [1.086–1.799] | .527 (.177)** | 1.694 [1.198–2.397] | .783 (.121)*** | 2.189 [1.727–2.774] |
Age group | ||||||
16–24 (ref) | ||||||
25–34 | − .382 (.211) | .683 [.451–1.033] | − 3.20 (.271) | .726 [.427–1.236] | − .271 (.256) | .763 [.462–1.259] |
35–44 | − .574 (.210)** | .563 [.373–.850] | − .591 (.267)* | .554 [.328–.935] | − .916 (.239)*** | .400 [.250–.640] |
45–54 | .052 (.230) | 1.054 [.672–1.653] | .217 (.310) | 1.242 [.676–2.281] | − .791 (.243)** | .454 [.282–.731] |
55–64 | .662 (.268)* | 1.939 [1.146–3.282] | 1.152 (.412)** | 3.166 [1.412–7.099] | − 1.004 (.244)*** | .366 [.227–.591] |
65+ | .607 (.247)* | 1.834 [1.131–2.976] | 1.229 (.389)** | 3.417 [1.594–7.328] | − 1.332 (.231)*** | .264 [.168–.415] |
Geographical location | ||||||
Non-metropolitan (ref) | ||||||
Metropolitan | − .119 (.163) | .888 [.645–1.220] | − .022 (.225)** | .979 [.630–1.519] | − .041 (.140) | .960 [.730–1.262] |
Exposure to campaign | ||||||
No exposure (ref) | ||||||
Some exposure (aware but did not participate) | .700 (.146)*** | 2.013 [1.514–2.678] | 1.092 (1.99)*** | 2.979 [2.017–4.400] | .297 (.131)** | 1.346 [1.040–1.741] |
Highest exposure (aware and participated) | 1.077 (.190)*** | 2.936 [2.022–4.262] | .836 (.231)*** | 2.308 [1.467–3.631] | 1.863 (.232)*** | 6.445 [4.094–10.146] |
Help seeking | ||||||
No help sought (ref) | ||||||
Sought help | − .022 (.179) | .978 [.689–1.390] | − .160 (.232) | .852 [.541–1.343] | .632 (.209)** | 1.881 [1.250–2.831] |
Rather not say | − .374 (.302) | .688 [.381–1.243] | − .584 (.356) | .558 [.278–1.121] | − .103 (.330) | .902 [.473–1.722] |
Constant | 1.074 (.248)*** | 2.926 | 1.515 (.325)*** | 4.549 | 1.303 (253)*** | 3.679 |
Model χ2 | 105.114*** (df = 11) | 103.934*** (df = 11) | 236.968*** (df = 11) |
Campaign exposure’s impact on helping beliefs
Belief in importance of asking | Belief in ease of asking | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Unstandardised b coefficient [95% CI] | p-value | unstandardised b Coefficient [95% CI] | p-value | |
Sex | .679 [.393, .965] | < .001 | .811 [.575, 1.047] | < .001 |
Age group | .198 [.112, .284] | < .001 | .167 [.096, .237] | < .001 |
Geographical location | − .450 [− .791, − .108] | .010 | − .383 [− .664, − .101] | .008 |
Exposure to campaign | .302 [.091, .512] | .005 | .545 [.372, 719] | < .001 |
Help seeking in past 12 months | − .222 [− .516, .072] | .138 | − .168 [− .410, .074] | .174 |
Constant | 4.957 [4.147, 5.496] | < .001 | 4.805 [4.359, 5.250] | < .001 |
R2 | .033 | < .001 | .060 | < .001 |