Help‐seeking Behavior in Socially Conservative and Christian Suicide Decedents

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between religious affiliation, political beliefs, and lifetime mental health help‐seeking behavior in a sample of suicide decedents. We hypothesized that Christian decedents would be less likely to have sought help than non‐Christians, and socially conservative individuals would be less likely to have sought help than socially liberal or moderate individuals. Method Smaller samples (N = 147 for political analyses, N = 218 for religion analyses) were drawn from a larger sample of 267 suicide decedents, for whom data were collected from loss survivors. Results Logistic regression analyses showed that Christian and non‐Christian individuals did not differ significantly in help‐seeking behavior prior to death by suicide. Individuals who identified as socially liberal were significantly more likely to have sought mental health care than were individuals who identified as socially conservative. Conclusions This is the first study to examine the association between social conservatism and a lack of help‐seeking behavior. These findings show the importance of implementing interventions to increase help‐seeking behavior for suicidality within demographic groups that stigmatize help‐seeking behavior, specifically socially conservative individuals. They also stress the importance of suicide prevention tactics that do not require disclosing suicidal intent within these groups.

People Who Die by Suicide Without Receiving Mental Health Services: A Systematic Review

“…Most studies were adequate on Items 1 and 2, while close to half of studies were rated as partial for item 3 and poor for item 4. Only eight studies scored less than adequate on >50% of the items ( 31 , 36 , 53 , 54 , 56 , 68 , 73 , 76 ). Excluding these studies did not meaningfully alter the results.…”

Suicide Risk Help-Seeking Among Middle- to Old-Age Adults: A Systematic Review

“…Six studies focused on suicide decedents and retrospectively examined their service use prior to suicide. Specifically, 4 articles reported on suicide decedents’ service use up to 1 year prior to suicide ( 43–46 ), 1 study reported on service use during the last 2 years of the decedents’ life ( 47 ), and another examined loss survivors’ knowledge of whether and when decedents sought help for mental health concerns at some point during lifetime and prior to death ( 48 ). Most of the articles ( n = 5) in this category reported quantitative analysis results ( 43 , 44 , 46–48 ); 1 study reported mixed-methods findings ( 45 ).…”

“…All of the studies reported that the majority of suicide decedents sought help in their last years of life. The prevalence of service contact or utilization ranged from 75% ( 48 ) to 87% ( 44 ). A range of service contact and/or utilization were examined and reported in these studies.…”

“…Fontanella et al ( 43 ) examined general medical, mental health, and substance abuse treatment visits. In the study conducted by Waitz-Kudla et al ( 48 ), loss survivors were asked to specify suicide decedents’ help-seeking behavior which included taking medication and/or seeing health professionals for mental health issues. Mallon et al ( 45 ) examined suicide decedents’ contact with general practice or psychiatric services in the final year of life.…”

“…The work by Liu et al ( 46 ) reported on outpatient service use, with a breakdown of the primary reason for the visit (ie, mental vs nonmental disorders). Both Fontanella et al ( 43 ) and Waitz-Kudla et al ( 48 ) explored the role of race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic Whites vs non-Whites) on service use and reported no significant differences.…”