Media Reporting of Suicides and its Impact on the General Population: A Scoping Review
Main Article Content
Abstract
Introduction
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among individuals worldwide. Numerous factors contribute to suicide ideation and recent studies are suggesting that the media’s presentation of suicide seems to contribute considerably to suicide ideation and attempt among their audience.
Significance
This current study aims to evaluate the extent of the literature on media reporting in the context of suicide ideation. It attempts to answer the questions, what potential factors and phenomena in media reporting are relevant to suicide ideation, what are the current solutions to improve media reporting, and what are the implications of the factors and solutions on media reporting regarding suicide ideation and attempt?
Methods
PubMed, Google Scholar, CMAJ, PNAS, Research Gate, Science Direct, and Sage Pub were used to retrieve journals of interest; 516 relevant journals were then collected. After which, the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews was employed to screen for eligibility that resulted to the final 61 journals that were included in the present study.
Results
Enough evidence supports that media reporting methods are a crucial contributor to the prevention of suicide ideation and attempt. Thereby, the application of positive changes in these methods warrants suicide prevention instead of mediation.
Conclusion
Our study strongly suggests that emphasis is needed on guideline adherence, construction, improvement, and implementation of media reporting methods. These methods must be proactively addressed and established with a holistic approach and constant collaboration among mental health experts and media professionals.
Article Details
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© Journal of Asian Medical Students’ Association (JAMSA). Released under a Creative Commons license.
References
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