Desirable and Adverse Effects of Communicative Suicide Prevention Interventions Among Men.

Abstract

Background: Despite men's high suicide risk, gender perspectives in suicide prevention research are scarce. Aims: The goal of this systematic review was to describe the desirable and adverse effects of distribution channels and message strategies of communicative suicide prevention interventions among men. Methods: Databases PubMed and Web of Science were searched for quantitative randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and nonrandomized studies examining the effectiveness of male-specific or general communicative interventions among men. Narrative synthesis was used to summarize findings. Results: Fifty-five studies published in peer-reviewed articles until October 15, 2021, were included. Findings demonstrate that interpersonal, mass media, and digital media interventions impact suicide-related outcomes preventively. Mass media interventions are not suitable to impact men's emotions in a prevention-desirable way. Message strategies interactivity, emotional appeals, and clear calls to action demonstrated high effectiveness, while expert exemplars, visualizations, and personalization were rather ineffective. Limitations: However, the review was not able to prove causality, could not distinguish between multichannel interventions and single-channel interventions, or between specific combinations of channels and message strategies. Discussion: The systematic review provides some guidance on which channels and message strategies to apply in communicative suicide prevention for men.