Community-based Suicide Prevention in LMICs: Suicide First Aid Guidelines

In this course, Dr Erminia Colucci, Associate Professor of Cultural and Visual Psychology, Middlesex University, London, observes that because culture-based beliefs, values, and meanings are so central to suicidal ideation and behaviour, it is essential to formulate prevention strategies according to locally relevant, culturally appropriate guidelines. Yet the grand majority of suicide research studies in the last decades have been quantitative, biomedical-model investigations produced in developed, English-speaking countries whose values and cultural practices are hugely different from the lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where most of the suicides are occurring. Rather than import inappropriate prevention or intervention strategies from research-producing developed countries into developing ones, Dr Colucci introduces a community-based prevention approach, “suicide first aid guidelines.” These guidelines involve two steps: (1) the generation of customised guidelines using panels of local experts and (2) training local community members to become “gatekeepers” (those locals who are in a position to identify early on the warning signs that someone may be suicidal). Such guidelines are designed to help members of the public provide first aid to someone who is at risk of suicide, but they may also be helpful to non-mental health professionals working in health and welfare settings. The session concludes with a short Q&A segment with Dr. Colucci.