Suicide and Self-harm in South Asia and its impact among family and community members.

Background

Suicide bereavement is a strong predictor of suicidal behaviour, yet it remains a neglected specially in LMICs where nearly 77% of the majority deaths occur. With nearly 48 – 500 million people globally exposed to suicide bereavement annully, evidence from high income countries suggest parental suicide increases risk of suicide and self-harm in offspring. Additionally, it is essential to acknowledge that cultural differences can significantly impact the response to suicide, making it difficult to directly apply findings and recommendations from high-income settings to South Asian context.

Hence, to bridge this knowledge gap, this project aims to understand the influence of exposure to suicide and self-harm on family and community members.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of this project is to understand the risk of suicide and self-harm among family and community members exposed to these events.

Objectives

My objectives are

  1. To measure the risk of suicide and self-harm among family and community members exposed to suicide.
  2. To assess the association of suicide and self-harm risk by age, sex of the individual, kinship relationship and timing of exposure.
  3. To measure the impact on educational trajectories in school going children who are exposed to suicidal behaviour
  4. To map the community exposure of suicide and self-harm events using GPS data.

Methods

The study intends to utilise the baseline and hospital follow-up data (2011-2016) collected as part of the locked box trial to assess risk of suicide and self-harm among individuals who are exposed to these behaviours in family and community members and assess if the risk varies by sex, age, kinship, and timing of the exposure. While to assess the impact of exposure to suicidal behaviours one educational trajectories, the locked box data sets will be linked to data from schools on educational attainment and attendance from THEATRE study.

Project team:

University of Bristol, UK: Duleeka Knipe, Chris Metcalfe, Thilini Rajapakse, Elisha Joshi

Funders/Supporters

This study is funded by University of Bristol.