Do Search Engine Helpline Notices Aid in Preventing Suicide? Analysis of Archival Data

Abstract

Background Search engines display helpline notices when people query for suicide-related information. Objective In this study, we aimed to examine if these notices and other information displayed in response to suicide-related queries are correlated with subsequent searches for suicide prevention rather than harmful information. Methods Anonymous suicide-related searches made on Bing and Google in the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in a span of 10 months were extracted. Descriptive analyses and regression models were fit to the data to assess the correlation with observed behaviors. Results Display of helpline notices was not associated with an observed change in the likelihood of or future suicide searches ( P =.42). No statistically significant differences were observed in the likelihood of people making future suicide queries (both generally and specific types of suicide queries) when comparing search engines in locations that display helpline notices versus ones that do not. Pages with higher rank, being neutral to suicide, and those shown among more antisuicide pages were more likely to be clicked on. Having more antisuicide Web pages displayed was the only factor associated with further searches for suicide prevention information (hazard=1.18, P =.002). Conclusions Helpline notices are not associated with harm. If they cause positive change in search behavior, it is small. This is possibly because of the variability in intent of users seeking suicide-related information. Nonetheless, helpline notice should be displayed, but more efforts should be made to improve the visibility and ranking of suicide prevention Web pages.

Digital Health Communication Common Agenda 2.0: An Updated Consensus for the Public and Private Sectors to Advance Public Health

“…The 2019 Summit explored several new challenges and opportunities that are shaping both the contours and dynamics of the digital health communication space. These included showcasing emergent research on the promising use of Internet search engines and data mining to prevent or diagnose diseases (e.g., Cheng & Yom-Tov, 2019;Hochberg, Daoud, Shehadeh, & Yom-Tov, 2019;Ofran, Paltiel, Pelleg, Rowe, & Yom-Tov, 2012); understanding the role of stigma, misinformation, misconception, and autonomous Internet actors ("bots") that have capacity to distort, controversialize, and undermine public perceptions of public health issues, such as vaccine safety and vaccine hesitancy (e.g., Broniatowski et al, 2018;Dredze, Broniatowski, Smith, & Hilyard, 2016;Fraser, 2019;Jamison, Broniatowski, & Quinn, 2019); understanding the increased use and impact of visuals on health perceptions and the variations in tone, stance, and accuracy of information available at moderated versus unmoderated public websites (e.g., Shoup et al, 2019); and illuminating the increasing challenges to protecting public health presented by what are commonly referred to as the "Dark Net" and "Deep Web" (e.g., Carson, 2018;Mackey, 2018;McCormick, 2014).…”

Self-harm and suicidal content online, harmful or helpful? A systematic review of the recent evidence

“…The majority of the included studies were descriptive in nature; exploring the nature of the content found online (51 studies), describing user knowledge (2 studies) or exploring user experiences (28 studies). There were only six experimental studies (An and Lee, 2019; Cheng and Yom-Tov, 2019; Corbitt-Hall et al , 2016; Corbitt-Hall et al , 2019; Lewis et al , 2018; Till et al , 2017). Only four of the included studies had a longitudinal element (Arendt et al , 2019; Cheng and Yom-Tov, 2019; Scherr and Reinemann, 2016; Till et al , 2017).…”

“…There were only six experimental studies (An and Lee, 2019; Cheng and Yom-Tov, 2019; Corbitt-Hall et al , 2016; Corbitt-Hall et al , 2019; Lewis et al , 2018; Till et al , 2017). Only four of the included studies had a longitudinal element (Arendt et al , 2019; Cheng and Yom-Tov, 2019; Scherr and Reinemann, 2016; Till et al , 2017). Of the 36 studies focussed on users rather than content, 16 of these were in populations with direct experience of self-harm or thoughts of self-harm.…”

Contestability For Content Moderation

“…And while most content moderation is not a crisis, on occasion it can be: one young man recently committed suicide after an account suspension prevented him from conducting business and repeated attempts to appeal the decision failed [94]. Platforms already provide mental health support in specific contexts like searches for self harm [73], eating disorders [45], and suicide [19]. Providing emotional support could one small way to begin to address users' calls for additional compassion in the design of content moderation.…”