Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/12915
Appears in Collections:Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Optimizing Suicide Prevention Programs and Their Implementation in Europe (OSPI Europe): an evidence-based multi-level approach
Author(s): Hegerl, Ulrich
Wittenburg, Lisa
Arensman, Ella
Audenhove, Chantal van
Coyne, James
McDaid, David
van der Feltz-Cornelis, Christina M
Gusmao, Ricardo
Kopp, Maria
Maxwell, Margaret
Meise, Ulrich
Roskar, Saska
Sarchiapone, Marco
Schmidtke, Armin
Varnik, Airi
Bramesfeld, Anke
Contact Email: margaret.maxwell@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: Suicide -Prevention Research
Suicidal behavior Research
Issue Date: 23-Nov-2009
Date Deposited: 15-May-2013
Citation: Hegerl U, Wittenburg L, Arensman E, Audenhove Cv, Coyne J, McDaid D, van der Feltz-Cornelis CM, Gusmao R, Kopp M, Maxwell M, Meise U, Roskar S, Sarchiapone M, Schmidtke A, Varnik A & Bramesfeld A (2009) Optimizing Suicide Prevention Programs and Their Implementation in Europe (OSPI Europe): an evidence-based multi-level approach. <i>BMC Public Health</i>, 9, Art. No.: 428. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-428
Abstract: Background: Suicide and non-fatal suicidal behaviour are significant public health issues in Europe requiring effective preventive interventions. However, the evidence for effective preventive strategies is scarce. The protocol of a European research project to develop an optimized evidence based program for suicide prevention is presented.Method: The groundwork for this research has been established by a regional community based intervention for suicide prevention that focuses on improving awareness and care for depression performed within the European Alliance Against Depression (EAAD). The EAAD intervention consists of (1) training sessions and practice support for primary care physicians, (2) public relations activities and mass media campaigns, (3) training sessions for community facilitators who serve as gatekeepers for depressed and suicidal persons in the community and treatment and (4) outreachand support for high risk and self-help groups (e.g. helplines). The intervention has been shown to be effective in reducing suicidal behaviour in an earlier study, the Nuremberg Alliance Against Depression. In the context of the current research project described in this paper (OSPI-Europe) the EAAD model is enhanced by other evidence based interventions and implemented simultaneously and in standardised way in four regions in Ireland, Portugal, Hungary and Germany.The enhanced intervention will be evaluated using a prospective controlled design with the primary outcomes being composite suicidal acts (fatal and non-fatal), and with intermediate outcomes being the effect of training programs, changes in public attitudes, guideline-consistent media reporting. In addition an analysis of the economic costs and consequences will be undertaken, while a process evaluation will monitor implementation of the interventions within the different regions with varying organisational and healthcare contexts.Discussion: This multi-centre research seeks to overcome major challenges of field research in suicide prevention. It pools data from four European regions, considerably increasing the study sample, which will be close to one million. In addition, the study will gather important information concerning the potential to transfer this multilevel program to other health care systems. The results of this research will provide a basis for developing an evidence-based, efficient concept for suicide prevention for EU-member states.
DOI Link: 10.1186/1471-2458-9-428
Rights: © 2009 Hegerl et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/428
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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