A blended face-to-face and smartphone intervention for suicide prevention in the construction industry: protocol for a randomized controlled trial with MATES in Construction

Global google trends for construction demonstrate low search volume index for stress, mental and suicide

The comparison of Google internet searches for English words in construction for "construction stress", "construction mental" and "construction suicide" with reference to "construction worker" has not previously been undertaken. It is important to understand internet interest across these 3 terms as all are relevant to mental health and stress in construction. Suicide risk is significantly complex and multifactorial. Our aim is to investigate internet search interest across construction with a focus on mental, stress and suicide, and determine whether there is consistent interest across these search terms.

METHODS

Using Google Trends, data on global search queries we compared "construction mental" or "construction stress" and "construction suicide". Two time periods were compared, the last 5 years and the last 24 months, both till December 8th, 2022. The relationship between web search interest, reflected by search volume index (SVI) for society and community versus the business and industrial category and health category were evaluated.

RESULTS

Open category searches on Google trends for the key words "construction mental" or "construction stress" demonstrated moderate SVI peaks over a 5-year period. Sub-group analyses for the industrial and business category demonstrated consistent low interest in suicide compared to search terms related to stress or mental health.

CONCLUSION

There is limited online interest in construction mental and stress and even less interest in suicide.

A blended face-to-face and smartphone intervention to improve suicide prevention literacy and help-seeking intentions among construction workers: a randomised controlled trial

PURPOSE

In Australia and elsewhere, suicide rates among construction workers remain high. Construction workplaces are thus an important setting for targeted suicide prevention programs. This study aimed to compare suicide prevention literacy and help-seeking intentions among participants receiving face-to-face suicide prevention training, with those receiving face-to-face training augmented by a smartphone application.

METHODS

A two-arm randomised controlled trial of a smartphone suicide prevention intervention was conducted among construction workers in four Australian states (trial registration number: ACTRN12619000625178). All participants received face-to-face training and were randomised to the control condition (face-to-face only, n = 575), or MATESmobile condition (face-to-face + smartphone application, n = 509). Surveys administered at baseline and 3-month follow-up measured suicide prevention literacy and help-seeking intentions for personal/emotional problems and suicidal thoughts. A mixed-model repeated measures (MMRM) analysis included all 1084 randomised participants.

RESULTS

Outcomes did not differ significantly for suicide prevention literacy, nor help-seeking intentions from formal sources, informal sources outside the workplace, or no one (did not intend to seek help from anyone). However, relative to those in the control condition, those in the MATESmobile group showed greater increase in help-seeking intentions for emotional problems from a MATES worker/Connector (mean difference 0.54, 95% CI 0.22-0.87) and help-seeking intentions for suicidal thoughts from a workmate (mean difference 0.47, 95% CI 0.10-0.83) or MATES worker/Connector (mean difference 0.47, 95% CI 0.09-0.85).

CONCLUSION

Results indicate that the MATESmobile application, together with face-to-face training, is beneficial in enhancing help-seeking intentions from MATES workers/Connectors and workmates to a greater extent than face-to-face training only. While this research provides some evidence that smartphone applications may support suicide prevention training, further research is needed.

Evaluation of a workplace suicide prevention program in the Australian manufacturing industry: protocol for a cluster-randomised trial of MATES in manufacturing

Males are at higher risk of death by suicide than females in Australia, and among men, blue-collar males are at higher risk compared to other working males. In response, MATES in Construction developed a workplace suicide prevention program for the construction sector in 2007 that has been widely implemented in Australia. In the current project, this program is being adapted and trialled in the manufacturing sector. The common aims of MATES programs are to improve suicide prevention literacy, help-seeking intentions, and helping behaviours. The program will be evaluated using a cluster randomised-controlled trial design with waitlist controls across up to 12 manufacturing worksites in Australia. We hypothesise that after 8 months of the MATES in Manufacturing program, there will be significantly greater improvements in help-seeking intentions (primary outcome) compared to waitlist controls. The project is led by Deakin University in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, and in partnership with MATES in Construction and a joint labour-management Steering Group.Trial registration: The trial was registered retrospectively with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry on 25 January 2022 (ACTRN12622000122752).Protocol version: 2.0, November 2022.

Factors influencing the successful connection of deliberate self-injury patients to community-based mental health centers

OBJECTIVE

The emergency department (ED) is a good place to start preventing actions for suicide attempters. As a preventive factor, early intervention, follow-up management, and connection with community-based mental health care are important. We aimed to determine which factors were important for a successful connection to community-based mental health care services.

METHODS

This study was conducted at two tertiary teaching hospitals from January 2018 to December 2020. There were 1016 deliberate self-harm patients who received the four weeks of follow-up intervention.

RESULTS

There were 166 patients in the connected group and 850 patients in the non-connected group. In the logistic regression analysis for the successful connection to community-based mental health care, married patients had an odds ratio (OR) 1.627 (95% CI 0.960-2.758), 1.314 OR (95% CI 0.619-2.790) of separated patients and 5.317 OR (CI 1.864-15.168) of widowed patients compared to single patients. And face-to-face follow-up management had 2.630 OR (95% CI 1.815-3.811) to the successful connection rate to community-based mental healthcare compared to the patients in non-face-to-face management.

CONCLUSION

When deliberately self-injured patients who visited the ED received short-term follow-up intervention after emergency treatment, face-to-face follow-up intervention had a higher connection rate to community-based mental healthcare centers than non-face-to-face follow-up intervention. In the future, for deliberate self-harm patients who visit the ED, the ED staff should manage deliberate self-harm through early detection and face-to-face follow-up intervention, and other methods that can compensate for face-to-face follow-up intervention.

Psychological distress and suicidal ideation among male construction workers in the United States

BACKGROUND

Male workers in the US construction industry have a higher suicide rate than other workers in the nation. However, related research on this population remains sparse. This study evaluated psychological distress and suicidal ideation in these workers, and possible underlying factors.

METHODS

Data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health from 2008 to 2014 were analyzed. Stratified and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine factors associated with psychological distress and suicidal ideation among male construction workers aged ≥18 years (n = 12,034).

RESULTS

Nearly one-third (29.6%) of male construction workers in the United States experienced psychological distress (23.8% graded as moderate, 5.8% as severe), and 2.5% reported suicidal ideation in the past year. Higher odds of serious psychological distress and suicidal ideation were found among workers who were younger, worked part-time, missed workdays due to injury or illness, or were in poor health. Illicit opioid use (odds ratio [OR] = 1.87, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.22-2.89) and alcohol dependence or abuse (OR = 2.64, 95% CI: 1.74-3.99) significantly escalated the odds of suicidal ideation. The odds of suicidal ideation among workers with serious psychological distress were 33 times higher than those having no or minor psychological distress (OR = 32.91, 95% CI: 19.82-54.65) when other factors were constant.

CONCLUSIONS

Occupational and nonoccupational factors were associated with constructionworkers' psychological distress and suicidal ideation. Both illicit opioid use and alcohol dependence or abuse were risk factors, and psychological distress was a strong predictor for suicidal ideation. To improve workers' mental health, it is necessary to integrate workplace injury prevention with illicit opioid-use reduction programs and suicide prevention.

Preventing suicide, promoting resilience: Is this achievable from a global perspective?

Suicide continues to be a major health concern globally despite many initiatives to identify risk factors and methods for suicide prevention. We have carried out a detailed narrative review of the literature from 2016 to 2019 using the headings of Personal resilience (P1), People (P2), Places (P3), Prevention (P4), Promoting collaboration (P5), and Promoting research (P6) in order to support an integrated approach to suicide prevention and the promotion of personal and population resilience. We have made 10 key recommendations on how this can be moved forward.