PS17 - Implementation and Evaluation of National Suicide Prevention Programmes
Implementation and Evaluation of National Suicide Prevention Programmes - A Global PerspectiveThe aim of this presentation is to guide and support the development, implementation and evaluation of national suicide prevention strategies. The increase in public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflict, wars, and climate change, have increased the understanding of mental health risks and suicide prevention for people affected among governments and policy makers. Currently, 41 countries are known to have a national suicide prevention strategy. However, the number of countries with a completed evaluation of the effectiveness of a national suicide prevention strategy or action plan is limited. Evaluations are available for Finland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Australia, with a recent interim strategy review completed for the Republic of Ireland and a 15-year review also conducted in Japan following the conception of a national policy for suicide prevention. National strategies representing complex interventions should consider multiple interacting activities, changes over time, the quality of the implementation, and synergistic effects. Evaluations also need to account for the measurement of multiple outcomes, which are not confined to rates of suicidal behaviour and are inclusive of broader outcomes such as attitudes and knowledge of suicide, for example. In addition to the measurement of primary and intermediate outcomes, evaluation of any national strategy will require including an assessment of process indicators. Whilst a countrys suicide rate represents a key indicator to guide suicide prevention priorities and to determine impacts of suicide prevention programmes, many countries face the challenge of delays relating to officially published suicide figures and underreporting. This lecture aims to contribute to increased insight into the current status of national suicide prevention strategies at global level; to provide insight into relevant frameworks and resources; to increase insight into indicators for process and outcome evaluation of national suicide prevention strategies. The aim of this presentation is to guide and support the development, implementation and evaluation of national suicide prevention strategies. In recent years, a growing number of countries have expressed a need to support the actual implementation and evaluation of national suicide prevention strategies. This presentation aims to contribute to increased insight into the current status of national suicide prevention strategies at global level; to provide insight into relevant frameworks and resources, and to address national and global requirements in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular UN SDG 3.4: By 2030, to reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and to promote mental health and well-being.