Citation

Fleischmann A, Bertolote JM, Wasserman D, De Leo D, Bolhari J, Botega NJ, de Silva D, Phillips M, Vijayakumar L, Värnik A, Schlebusch L, Thanh HT. Bull. World Health Organ. 2008; 86(9): 703-709.

Affiliation

Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. fleischmanna@who.int

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, World Health Organization)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

18797646

PMCID

PMC2649494

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether brief intervention and contact is effective in reducing subsequent suicide mortality among suicide attempters in low and middle-income countries. METHODS: Suicide attempters (n = 1867) identified by medical staff in the emergency units of eight collaborating hospitals in five culturally different sites (Campinas, Brazil; Chennai, India; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Karaj, Islamic Republic of Iran; and Yuncheng, China) participated, from January 2002 to October 2005, in a randomized controlled trial to receive either treatment as usual, or treatment as usual plus brief intervention and contact (BIC), which included patient education and follow-up. Overall, 91% completed the study. The primary study outcome measurement was death from suicide at 18-month follow-up. FINDINGS: Significantly fewer deaths from suicide occurred in the BIC than in the treatment-as-usual group (0.2% versus 2.2%, respectively; chi2 = 13.83, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This low-cost brief intervention may be an important part of suicide prevention programmes for underresourced low- and middle-income countries.

Language: en