Citation

Thornton L, Handley T, Kay-Lambkin F, Baker A. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2016; 47(1): 48-53.

Affiliation

School of Medicine and Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/sltb.12261

PMID

27111845

Abstract

It is unclear whether individuals searching the Internet for assistance with thoughts of suicide are likely to encounter predominantly helpful or harmful resources. This study investigated websites retrieved by searching Google for information and support for suicidal thoughts. Google searches retrieved a high percentage of irrelevant websites (26%, n = 136). Of the 329 relevant websites retrieved, the majority were suicide preventive (68%); however, a considerable proportion of sites expressed mixed (22%) or neutral (8%) suicide attitudes, and 1% were explicitly pro-suicide. The results highlight a need for suicide prevention organization websites to be made more easily accessible. In the meantime, clinicians should be aware of appropriate websites to recommend to clients.

© 2016 The American Association of Suicidology.

Language: en