Citation

Fitzpatrick SJ, Brew BK, Read DMY, Inder KJ, Hayes A, Perkins D. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019; 16(16): e16162944.

Affiliation

Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, The University of Newcastle, PO Box 8043, Orange East, NSW 2800, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph16162944

PMID

31426302

Abstract

Disproportionate rates of suicide in rural Australia in comparison to metropolitan areas pose a significant public health challenge. The dynamic interrelationship between mental and physical health, social determinants, and suicide in rural Australia is widely acknowledged. Advancement of this knowledge, however, remains hampered by a lack of adequate theory and methods to understand how these factors interact, and the translation of this knowledge into constructive strategies and solutions. This paper presents a protocol for generating a comprehensive dataset of suicide deaths and factors related to suicide in rural Australia, and for building a program of research to improve suicide prevention policy and practice to better address the social determinants of suicide in non-indigenous populations. The two-phased study will use a mixed-methods design informed by intersectionality theory. Phase One will extract, code, and analyse quantitative and qualitative data on suicide in regional and remote Australia from the National Coronial Information System (NCIS). Phase Two will analyse suicide prevention at three interrelated domains: policy, practice, and research, to examine alignment with evidence generated in Phase One.

FINDINGS from Phase One and Two will then be integrated to identify key points in suicide prevention policy and practice where action can be initiated.

Language: en

Keywords

intersectionality; mixed methods; public health; rural Australia; social determinants; suicide; suicide prevention