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The Impact of Expert Interviews in Suicide-Related Awareness Materials

Last registered on October 22, 2018
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Impact of Expert Interviews in Suicide-Related Awareness Materials
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002100
Initial registration date
March 15, 2017

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 15, 2017, 10:37 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
October 22, 2018, 9:04 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Austria
Region
Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Benedikt Till
Affiliation
Medical University of Vienna, Center for Public Health, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-04-25
End date
2017-05-07
Keywords
Health
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that non-sensationalist suicide portrayals in the media, particularly those that focus on coping with adverse circumstances, have the potential to reduce suicidality among audiences. However, studies aiming to investigate which characteristics of a media story of hope and recovery support this positive effect the most are scarce. There is currently a lively debate among scholars, whether or not a clinician should disclose own suicidal crises in the past to patients in order to create the potential for strong horizontal identification with the clinician and his or her own story of recovery. The present study is a randomized controlled online trial. Participants are exposed to one of three possible media stories: Group #1 is exposed to a newspaper report focusing on an interview with a suicide expert talking about overcoming suicidal crises. In this story that expert makes it clear that she has not previously experienced a suicidal crisis in her own life. Group #2 is exposed to the same article, however in this version the expert discloses that she has experienced and overcome a suicidal crisis in the past. Group #3 (control group) is exposed to an interview with an expert talking about a health topic unrelated to suicide or mental health. Data on the audience’s risk factors for suicide and knowledge about suicide are collected before the experiment (T1, baseline) and immediately after story exposure (T2).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Till, Benedikt. 2018. "The Impact of Expert Interviews in Suicide-Related Awareness Materials." AEA RCT Registry. October 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2100-7.1
Former Citation
Till, Benedikt. 2018. "The Impact of Expert Interviews in Suicide-Related Awareness Materials." AEA RCT Registry. October 22. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2100/history/200601
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2017-04-25
Intervention End Date
2017-05-07

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Primary outcome: suicidal ideation; secondary outcome: suicide-related knowledge
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants are exposed to one of three possible media stories: Group #1 is exposed to a newspaper report focusing on an interview with a suicide expert talking about overcoming suicidal crises. In this story that expert makes it clear that she has not previously experienced a suicidal crisis in her own life. Group #2 is exposed to the same article, however in this version the expert discloses that she has experienced and overcome a suicidal crisis in the past. Group #3 (control group) is exposed to an interview with an expert talking about a health topic unrelated to suicide or mental health. Data on the audience’s risk factors for suicide and knowledge about suicide are collected before the experiment (T1, baseline) and immediately after story exposure (T2).
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done by computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
360 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
360 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
120 individuals in each of the 3 groups
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Review board of the Medical University of Vienna and the Vienna General Hospital AKH
IRB Approval Date
2017-04-25
IRB Approval Number
1285/2017
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
May 07, 2017, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
May 07, 2017, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
527
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
656
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Group #1: n = 173; Group #2: n = 174; Control group: n = 180
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

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Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
Objective: Media stories on how to cope with suicidal crises have been shown to reduce suicidal ideation, but studies investigating if effects differ depending on delivery by individuals with or without personal experience of suicidality are lacking. The present study aimed to examine effects of newspaper articles featuring interviews with experts with vs. without personal experience of suicidal ideation.
Method: A total of 527 adults were randomized to read a newspaper article featuring an interview with a suicide expert disclosing personal experience of suicidal ideation, the same article without disclosure of personal experience, or an article unrelated to suicide in a web-based randomized controlled trial. The primary outcome was suicidal ideation; the secondary outcome was suicide-prevention-related knowledge. Data were collected using online questionnaires before and after exposure.
Results: Participants in the two intervention groups reported a decrease in suicidal ideation (Group #1: P < .001, d = -0.16, 95% CI -0.25 to -0.07; Group #2: P < .001, d = -0.25, 95% CI -0.33 to -0.16) and an increase in suicide-prevention-related knowledge (Group #1: P < .001, d = 0.72, 95% CI 0.64 to 0.81; Group #2: P < .001, d = 0.70, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.79) after article exposure. There were no differences between the two intervention groups.
Conclusions: Educative media interviews with suicide prevention experts who disclose or do not disclose their personal experience of suicidality seem to be effective for suicide preventive education in the general public.
Citation
Till, B., Arendt, F., Scherr, S., & Niederkrotenthaler, T. (2019). Effect of educative suicide prevention news articles featuring experts with vs without personal experience of suicidal ideation: A randomized controlled trial of the Papageno effect. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 80(1), 17m11975. doi: 10.4088/JCP.17m11975.
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.4088/JCP.17m11975

Reports & Other Materials