Effektive og trygge budskap i folkeopplysning mot selvmord

Abstract

Regional media campaigns, as part of the Governmental Action Plan for Prevention of Suicide 2020-2025, will be implemented in all health regions in Norway. These campaigns will be conducted as part of multi-level interventions. The male population will be specifically targeted, and the campaign messages will be directed both at people at risk and members of their social network. The overall objective is to increase help-seeking for suicidal ideation in groups that would otherwise not seek help. The main message is “Talk about suicidal thoughts – it could be life-saving”. In this article we discuss important issues and questions arising in the process of developing safe and effective campaign messages. Messages on the one hand should be effective in improving knowledge, attitudes and help-seeking, while on the other hand they need to be safe, in order to avoid leading to unintended negative effects either in the population as a whole or in subgroups. One-way communication about suicide should use effective strategies for mass communication to reach the prioritized target groups, but they must at the same time take into consideration the way in which the messages may affect subgroups differently, and they should focus on sober and hope-oriented content. Questions which should be examined by further research, concerning both the effectiveness and the safety of messages, are suggested.