Evaluation of a workplace suicide prevention program in the Australian manufacturing industry: protocol for a cluster-randomised trial of MATES in manufacturing

Abstract

Males are at higher risk of death by suicide than females in Australia, and among men, blue-collar males are at higher risk compared to other working males. In response, MATES in Construction developed a workplace suicide prevention program for the construction sector in 2007 that has been widely implemented in Australia. In the current project, this program is being adapted and trialled in the manufacturing sector. The common aims of MATES programs are to improve suicide prevention literacy, help-seeking intentions, and helping behaviours. The program will be evaluated using a cluster randomised-controlled trial design with waitlist controls across up to 12 manufacturing worksites in Australia. We hypothesise that after 8 months of the MATES in Manufacturing program, there will be significantly greater improvements in help-seeking intentions (primary outcome) compared to waitlist controls. The project is led by Deakin University in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, and in partnership with MATES in Construction and a joint labour-management Steering Group.Trial registration: The trial was registered retrospectively with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry on 25 January 2022 (ACTRN12622000122752).Protocol version: 2.0, November 2022.

Workplace Interventions Targeting Mental Health Literacy, Stigma, Help-Seeking, and Help-Offering in Male-Dominated Industries: A Systematic Review

“…Poor research design coupled with variance in sample size across included studies further undermined the findings, with only four RCTs included in the review. While it is promising to see the recent registration of RCTs (LaMontagne et al, 2022), more are needed to build the evidence base to further the field.…”

Effectiveness of the Australian MATES in Construction Suicide Prevention Program: a systematic review

“…MATES is noteworthy due to the program’s successful diffusion amongst construction workers leading to wide dissemination in target areas ( Rogers, 2002 ; Oliffe et al , 2020 ). MATES uses an ‘Outrage, Hope, Action’ Model ( LaMontagne and Shann, 2020 ) to engage and motivate workers. The core objective of MATES is to increase awareness and engage workers collectively in suicide prevention ( Martin and Gullestrup, 2014 ; Neis and Neil, 2020 ).…”

“…The MATES program logic model describes how program outputs are expected to generate program outcomes ( Table 1 ) including improved mental health and reduced suicidality ( LaMontagne and Shann, 2020 ). MATES is a program rolled out organically and continuously over time.…”

“…MATES is a program rolled out organically and continuously over time. In this context short-, medium- and long-term outcomes are to be understood as referring to the order of the outcomes more than a timeframe ( LaMontagne and Shann, 2020 ). The following systematic review aimed to document available published evidence about the MATES program and assesses the evidence for overall program effectiveness.…”

Correction: Evaluation of a workplace suicide prevention program in the Australian manufacturing industry: protocol for a cluster-randomised trial of MATES in manufacturing

“…Following publication of the original article [ 1 ], the authors identified that R. Brimelow and C. Lockwood were incorrectly assigned to affiliation 2. The authors are assigned to affiliation 3.…”