Community and bystander interventions for the prevention of suicide: Protocol for a systematic review

Abstract

Suicide has a wide reaching and devastating impact on society. This article presents a study protocol for a systematic review of the literature on community and bystander interventions to reduce the incidence of suicide. These interventions are focused on people other than the person at-risk and are designed to increase awareness of warning signs and knowledge of how to most effectively respond. While there have been many studies undertaken on community and bystander intervention programs, we lack a synthesis of evidence regarding how an effective program is created and implemented. The proposed systematic review will address this gap by presenting the first comprehensive review on this topic. The specific aims of the review are to: (1) determine whether community and bystander interventions effectively increase bystander action to prevent suicide and, if so; (2) to understand what creates an effective community suicide intervention. The insights gathered will inform policy and guide investment in better evidence-based suicide interventions for the future.