Suicide Prevention Australia is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Innovative Research Grant funded by the Suicide Prevention Research Fund.
A/Prof Fiona Shand from University of NSW, Dr Angela Nicholas from University of Melbourne, Dr Tania King from University of Melbourne, A/Prof Micelle Tye from University of NSW, Dr Josie Povey from Menzies School of Health Research, Dr Ravi Iyer from Swinburne University, Dr Samuel McKay from University of Melbourne and A/Prof Ada Cheung from University of Melbourne, were all successful in receiving up to $100,000 to conduct suicide prevention research more exploratory in nature or more developmental in design.
This is the fifth time the Innovative Research Grant has been funded by the Suicide Prevention Research Fund and they join a cohort of more than 28 researchers who have received funding over the past 5 years.
The Innovation Research Grant supports research which will enable one or more of the following objectives:
- The generation of new knowledge about suicidal behaviour;
- The provision of greater insights on the interruption or prevention of suicidal behaviour;
- The exploration of new ways or improved practices in suicide prevention;
- The undertaking of the testing and piloting of new services and programs for suicide prevention;
- The provision of meaningful relationships between research and the application to services and program innovation.
A brief description of the research being undertaken by the recipients is provided below:
A/Prof Fiona Shand, University of NSW
Research title: Preventing the transition from suicidal thoughts to suicidal behaviour: a novel treatment for mental imagery of suicide
Description: Existing treatments for suicide ideation almost exclusively address verbal thoughts of suicide (e.g., “I want to die”), despite evidence that mental images about suicide (e.g., visualising and mentally rehearsing how one might take their life) present greater risk (Lawrence et al., 2022, 2023). To date, only one small, non-randomised study haved evaluated treatment for suicide imagery (Rahnama et al., 2013). This gap in available treatment has left consumers without effective treatment options, and has prompted a consortium of clinicians and researchers to recently publish a renewed and urgent call for research into potential treatments for suicide imagery (Paulik et al., 2023).
This grant will support the development of a new treatment for mental images of suicide. The treatment – a short-term, targeted psychotherapy – could be delivered as a supplement to enhance the effectiveness of existing suicide prevention and aftercare programs.
Dr Angela Nicholas, University of Melbourne
Research title: The Survivor – Using TikTok to tell stories of hope and recovery from suicidal crisis
Description: In this project, they aim to encourage the belief that all people can recover from suicidal thoughts without making a suicide attempt. This will achieve by promoting access to lived experience stories of recovery from a suicidal crisis in the form of short videos created for TikTok that will be promoted through a broader social media campaign. This research will co-design and co-create the campaign and videos with people with lived experience of suicide, who will tell their own stories of suicidal crisis and recovery. Before the public launch, the research team will evaluate the acceptability and impact of the videos. They will then promote the videos and other materials through the social media campaign and conduct a formal evaluation of the campaign’s reach, engagement and effects.
Dr Tania King, University of Melbourne
Research title: Suicide risk among young carers: using population-linked data to address a key research need
Description: Young carers are one of the most hidden and vulnerable groups in society. Sometimes as young as 5 years old, young carers provide informal care to someone with an illness, disability, or addiction or who is elderly. This caring has significant impacts on a range of outcomes including education, social activities and employment. The work has shown that young carers are at elevated risk of poor mental health. While adult carers are known to have be at higher risk of suicide, little is known about suicide risk among young carers. There is a critical need to fill this research gap, as across many societies including Australia, the demand for care is growing, placing greater reliance on unpaid carers including young carers.
This project will take a multidisciplinary, translational research design approach, and will incorporate the voices of young carers and key organisations to investigate associations between being a young carer and suicide outcomes. The overall aim of this study is to describe suicidal behaviour among young carers.
A/Prof Michelle Tye, University of NSW
Research title: ‘Like their lives depend on it’: Co-developing and acceptability testing a digital response to build schools’ capacity to support adolescents experiencing suicidal
Description: Suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STBs) affect adolescents (13–17 years) more than any other age group, acting as major threats to wellbeing and survival. Though schools are a critical part of the mental healthcare system for adolescents, the current school psychology workforce is unable to meet current demand for care. Both young people and education departments have identified digital “suicide prevention” tools as a priority area for enhancing schools’ workforce capacity to support adolescents experiencing STBs.
The team recently developed a therapeutic app, using a user-centred approach, that has been shown in two trials to help adolescents and young adults effectively self-manage STBs (“LifeBuoy”).
Dr Josie Povey, Menzies School of Health Research
Research title: Ngawurramangajirri (we care for each other): Understanding resilience and peer support through a digital mental health co-design project with the Tiwi LGBTIQ+ community
Description: Led by the established Ngawurramangajirri Elders group, in collaboration with Yangamini Inc. this project will explore peer support and resilience within the Tiwi LGBTIQ+ community and co-create, develop, and disseminate a community led digital resource in Tiwi language about mental health and wellbeing. Through the exploration, development and distribution of a co-created mental health language resource this project seeks to strengthen connection to language and culture, mental health literacy, self-awareness, self-management, and help seeking for mental health concerns. This project harnesses protective factors for wellbeing, and forms a community led, culturally grounded suicide prevention activity focused on a minority, vulnerable group.
This project harnesses protective factors for wellbeing, and forms a community led, culturally grounded suicide prevention activity focused on a minority, vulnerable and yet thriving group. It will result in the generation of new knowledge about suicidal behaviours, protective factors and potential interventions with a focus on lived and living experiences. It will provide greater insights into the interruption or prevention of suicidal behaviour by understanding the caring and cultural roles of Tiwi LGBTQI+ people across the lifespan, leading to greater understanding of potential models of care and improved practices when providing support.
Dr Ravi Iyer, Swinburne University
Research title: Speech Assisted Suicide Risk Detection (PAUSE) – An implementation and evaluation project
Description: The implementation of a novel technological innovation that aims to interrupt suicidal ideation and behavior, and to reduce risk of suicide among Lifeline callers. This project will generate new knowledge about suicidal ideation and provide insights that will inform responses by suicide helpline counsellors, explore innovative ways to improve suicide prevention practices and, critically, will pilot a new service capability within Lifeline Australia.
Currently, assessment of suicidality in helpline settings is performed via self-report questionnaires (e.g., Patient Health Questionnaire – 9) or checklist (i.e., Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale). While these measures have strengths, they are time-intensive to administer. Moreover, many callers are reluctant to discuss their experience of suicide risk due to shame, stigma, or concerns about activation of emergency services (Levy et al., 2019). Thus, callers at high risk of suicide may go unidentified and under-supported during a period of high risk.
Speech Assisted Suicide Risk Detection (PAUSE) is an innovative approach to suicide risk detection that uses vocal characteristics of caller speech to detect suicide risk. This information supports the tailoring of helpline counsellor responses to specific caller needs.
Dr Samuel McKay, University of Melbourne
Research title: Empowering International Students to Better Manage Suicide Risk Through Co-Creating an Innovative and Implementable Digital Suicide Prevention Intervention
Description: Suicidal thoughts and behaviours are prevalent among international students, and their tendency to underutilise mental health services contributes to an increased risk of suicide. Addressing the issue of international student suicides is a government priority, requiring innovative prevention strategies. However, there are currently no evidence-based suicide prevention programs that are specifically designed or adapted to meet the unique needs of international students.
Digital interventions targeting modifiable risk and protective factors show potential promise to reduce international student suicides. The research aims to assess whether digital interventions are a promising direction for international student suicide prevention.
A/Prof Ada Cheung, University of Melbourne
Research title: Thriving Transitions: A peer support suicide prevention program for trans people on a waitlist to access gender affirming care
Description: Suicide among trans and gender diverse (trans) individuals is at least 2-fold higher than the general population (Wiepjes et al, 2020). Currently, 81% of parents at the Austin Health gender clinic waitlist experience suicidal ideation (Nolan et al, 2023), and whilst gender affirming hormone therapy reduces suicidality, wait lists are >9 months for an initial consultation. For parents on the waitlist, they propose a co-created randomised controlled trial of a low-cost trans peer support program compared with standard care over 3 months to evaluate if this can reduce suicidal idea/on, depressive symptoms and improve quality of life.
To learn more about the Suicide Prevention Research Fund, click here.
To read previously funded research, click here.
