TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Does a TV public service advertisement campaign for suicide prevention really work?
JO  - Crisis
A1  - Song, In Han
A1  - You, Jung-Won
A1  - Kim, Ji Eun
A1  - Kim, Jung-Soo
A1  - Kwon, Se Won
A1  - Park, Jong-Ik
SP  - 195
EP  - 201
VL  - 38
IS  - 3
N2  - BACKGROUND: One of the critical measures in suicide prevention is promoting public awareness of crisis hotline numbers so that individuals can more readily seek help in a time of crisis. Although public service advertisements (PSA) may be effective in raising the rates of both awareness and use of a suicide hotline, few investigations have been performed regarding their effectiveness in South Korea, where the suicide rate is the highest among OECD countries. AIMS: The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a television PSA campaign. <br><br>METHOD: We analyzed a database of crisis phone calls compiled by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare to track changes in call volume to a crisis hotline that was promoted in a TV campaign. We compared daily call counts for three periods of equal length: before, during, and after the campaign. <br><br>RESULTS: The number of crisis calls during the campaign was about 1.6 times greater than the number before or after the campaign. Relative to the number of suicide-related calls in the previous year, the number of calls during the campaign period surged, displaying a noticeable increase. <br><br>CONCLUSION: The findings confirmed that this campaign had a positive impact on call volume to the suicide hotline.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0227-5910
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000434
ID  - ref1
ER  -