New paper out: Identifying therapeutic characteristics of digital social media narratives about suicide: a mixed methods investigation

Read the full paper here and see key points from the paper below!

Key Points

Question: What are the characteristics of narratives associated with decreased suicidal thinking and increased social connectedness and optimism? What kind of content is included in first-hand narratives about suicide posted on a social media platform, and how frequently does this kind of content appear in a sample of popular narratives selected from this platform?

Findings: We identified three narrative clusters: Cluster 1: “Encouraging Readers to Live,” Cluster 2: “Sharing Personal Stories,” and Cluster 3: “Detailed Accounts.” Clusters 2 and 3 were associated with greatest reduction in suicidal thoughts, Cluster 2 with the greatest increase in social connectedness, and Cluster 3 with the greatest increase in optimism. Results suggest the optimal narratives for reducing suicidal thoughts are personal, detailed accounts.

Meaning: This study has implications for intervention design demonstrating that user-generated narratives about STBs, particularly those containing balanced accounts of suicidality and first-hand stories, show promise as a scalable intervention for suicidal ideation. Additionally, the findings of this study have significant implications for social media networks and other digital platforms.