@article{ref1,
title="Googling for suicide: a content and quality analysis of suicide-related websites",
journal="JMIR formative research",
year="2021",
author="Chen, Wen and Boggero, Andrea and Del Puente, Giovanni and Olcese, Martina and Prestia, Davide and Jahrami, Haitham and Chalghaf, Nasr and Guelmami, Noomen and Azaiez, Fairouz and Bragazzi, Nicola Luigi",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Suicide represents a public health concern, imposing a dramatic burden. Pro-suicide websites are &quot;virtual pathways&quot; facilitating the insurgence of suicidal behaviors, especially among socially-isolated, susceptible individuals. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: To characterize suicide-related web-pages in the Italian language. <br><br>METHODS: The first five most commonly used search engines in Italy (namely, Bing©, Virgilio©, Yahoo©, Google©, and Libero©) were mined, searching for &quot;suicidio&quot; (Italian for suicide). For each search, the first 100 web-pages were considered. Web-sites resulting from each search were collected and duplicates deleted, in such a way that unique web-pages were analyzed and rated, using the HONcode© instrument. <br><br>RESULTS: Sixty-four web-pages were included: 12.5% were anti-suicide and 6.3% explicitly pro-suicide. The majority of the included websites had a mixed/neutral attitude towards suicide (81.2%) and had an informative content and purpose (60.9%). Most web-pages targeted adolescents as age-group (59.4%), contained a reference to other psychiatric disorders/co-morbidities (65.6%), were with a medical/professional supervision/guidance (70.3%), without figures/pictures related to suicide (64.1%) and did not contain any access restraint (96.9%). The major shortcoming is the small sample size of web-pages analyzed and the search limited to the keyword &quot;suicide&quot;. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Specialized mental health professionals should try to improve their presence online and providing high-quality material.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2561-326X",
doi="10.2196/29146",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/29146"
}