@article{ref1,
title="Suicide prevention outreach on social media delivered by trained volunteers",
journal="Crisis",
year="2022",
author="Keasar, Vered and Sznitman, Sharon and Baumel, Amit",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND: There is a need to develop new ways to reach and engage people at risk for suicidal behavior. Suicide prevention outreach on social media (SPOSM) represents a promising strategy, and trained volunteers could potentially provide the needed human resources. Aims: We aimed to investigate users' perception of SPOSM delivered by volunteers of the Israeli Sahar organization and its potential to promote help-seeking behavior. <br><br>METHODS: Outreach messages written by Sahar volunteers between July 2015 and June 2020 in response to suicidal posts on a social media site were screened. User responses were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. <br><br>RESULTS: One hundred sixteen user responses were analyzed. Positive impact themes were identified in 69.8% of responses, while 16.4% of responses mentioned barriers to care and 10.3% were negative. Limitations: As the study is based on real-life data, the data are limited to users who chose to respond to outreach. <br><br>CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that volunteer-based SPOSM is viewed positively by many users and may foster help-seeking behavior. The findings also outline challenges such as emotional barriers to care and privacy concerns.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0227-5910",
doi="10.1027/0227-5910/a000864",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000864"
}