Citation

Pirkis J. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 113.

Affiliation

University of Melbourne, Program Evaluation Unit, School of Population Health, 3010 Melbourne, Australia. j.pirkis@unimelb.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16964067

Abstract

In 2002, Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness was released in Australia, designed to promote awareness of suicide-related issues among media professionals. It superseded an earlier kit launched in 1999, known as Achieving the Balance. Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness shares content in common with many other similar guidelines from around the world. For example, it recommends avoiding sensationalising or glamorising suicide or giving it undue prominence, and avoiding providing specific detail about the suicide. The dissemination of Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness has differed from that of other guidelines, however. The dissemination method of choice is typically a mass mail-out to media outlets, with no targeted communication strategy. By contrast, Australia's Hunter Institute of Mental Health has supported media organisations in their understanding and use of the guidelines, by conducting face-to-face briefings, offering ad hoc advice, distributing hard and soft copies of the guidelines and supporting materials, working with peak media organisations to incorporate aspects of the guidelines into codes of practice and editorial policies, and providing ongoing follow-up and promotion. This model of dissemination will be discussed in detail.

Language: en