A Scoping Review of Digital-Based Intervention for Reducing Risk of Suicide Among Adults

Abstract

Suicide is a serious public health problem, especially among adults. Risk factors for suicide include the presence of mental health disorders, history of previous suicide attempts; substance or alcohol use and lack of social support. The impact of suicide risk includes psychological loss, as well as the trauma and emotional stress that can be felt by the families and communities left behind. Digital interventions have emerged as a promising alternative for suicide risk prevention. Previous research has focused on the findings of various designs, which did not provide clear intervention information to inform the implementation of the intervention. This study aims to describe a digital intervention to reduce the risk of suicidal behavior in adults. The design used in this study was a scoping review. The authors conducted a literature search from the Scopus, PubMed, and CINAHL databases. Inclusion criteria in this study were articles discussing digital interventions aimed at preventing suicide risk in adult populations, English language, full-text, RCT or quasi-experiment design, and publication period of the last 10 years (2014–2024). The major keywords used in the article search were suicide prevention, digital intervention, and adults. Data extraction used manual table and data analysis used descriptive qualitative with a content approach. The results showed that there were 9 articles that discussed digital-based interventions to reduce suicide risk in adults. The various types of digital interventions used were smartphone apps, online learning modules, and game-based interven-tions. These interventions offer significant potential in reducing the risk of suicidal behavior in adults. Digital interventions have an important role in reducing the risk of suicidal behavior in adults by considering aspects of suitability to individual needs and understanding digital literacy. Then, the development of mental health services and public health policies presented needs to be done with collaboration between stakeholders in suicide prevention efforts.