Citation

Parrott S, Britt BC, Hayes JL, Albright DL. J. Evid. Based Soc. Work (2019) 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/26408066.2020.1788478

PMID

32619146

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Communication plays an important role in the prevention of suicide, a leading cause of death in the United States. Prior research suggests people who die by suicide often communicate their intent to more than one member of their social network. The ubiquity of social media in modern society means an individual's social network may be larger than ever before, which has contributed to a proliferation of colloquial terms and phrases to describe suicide.

AIMS: The present study collected and validated suicide-related terms from the U.S. English language in 2018-2019. By validating clinical and lay terms with people on the front lines of suicide prevention, the study provides a necessary foundation for lexical analyses of suicide communication on social media.

METHOD: 98 terms related to suicide were collected from online, academic, and other sources. Mental health professionals and members of the electronic mailing list of the American Association of Suicidology were asked to validate terms.

RESULTS: The survey validated common terms used to communicate about suicide.

LIMITATIONS: The lexicon did not capture international phrases. It also did not document less direct language, such as expressions of emotion.

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; social media; network analysis