TY - JOUR

T1 - Knowledge, attitudes and experiences of self-harm and suicide in low-income and middle-income countries

T2 - protocol for a systematic review

AU - McPhillips, Rebecca

AU - Nafees, Sadia

AU - Elahi, Anam

AU - Batool, Saqba

AU - Tiptur Nagaraj, Murali Krishna

AU - Krayer, Anne

AU - Huxley, Peter

AU - Chaudhry, Nasim

AU - Robinson, Catherine

N1 - © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.

PY - 2021/6/22

Y1 - 2021/6/22

N2 - Introduction: Over 800,000 people die due to suicide each year and suicide presents huge psychological, economic and social burdens for individuals, communities and countries as a whole. Low and middle income countries (LMICs) are disproportionately affected by suicide. The strongest risk factor for suicide is a previous suicide attempt, and other types of self-harm have been found to be robust predictors of suicidal behaviour. An approach that brings together multiple sectors including education, labour, business, law, politics and the media is crucial to tackling suicide and self-harm. The World Health Organization highlights that evaluations of the knowledge and attitudes that priority groups, not only healthcare staff, have of mental health and suicidal behaviour are key to suicide prevention strategies. The aim of this systematic review is to examine the knowledge, attitudes and experiences different stakeholders in LMICs have of self-harm and suicide.Methods and analysis:Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, CINAHL, BNI, Social Sciences and Cochrane library will be searched. Reviewers working independently of each other will screen search results, select studies for inclusion, extract and check extracted data, and rate the quality of the studies using the STROBE and CASP checklists. In anticipation of heterogeneity, a narrative synthesis of quantitative studies will be provided and meta-ethnography will be used to synthesise qualitative studies. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval is not required. A report will be provided for the funding body, and the systematic review will be submitted for publication in a high-impact, peer-reviewed, open access journal. Results will also be disseminated at conferences, seminars, congresses and 21symposia and to relevant stakeholders.

AB - Introduction: Over 800,000 people die due to suicide each year and suicide presents huge psychological, economic and social burdens for individuals, communities and countries as a whole. Low and middle income countries (LMICs) are disproportionately affected by suicide. The strongest risk factor for suicide is a previous suicide attempt, and other types of self-harm have been found to be robust predictors of suicidal behaviour. An approach that brings together multiple sectors including education, labour, business, law, politics and the media is crucial to tackling suicide and self-harm. The World Health Organization highlights that evaluations of the knowledge and attitudes that priority groups, not only healthcare staff, have of mental health and suicidal behaviour are key to suicide prevention strategies. The aim of this systematic review is to examine the knowledge, attitudes and experiences different stakeholders in LMICs have of self-harm and suicide.Methods and analysis:Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, CINAHL, BNI, Social Sciences and Cochrane library will be searched. Reviewers working independently of each other will screen search results, select studies for inclusion, extract and check extracted data, and rate the quality of the studies using the STROBE and CASP checklists. In anticipation of heterogeneity, a narrative synthesis of quantitative studies will be provided and meta-ethnography will be used to synthesise qualitative studies. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval is not required. A report will be provided for the funding body, and the systematic review will be submitted for publication in a high-impact, peer-reviewed, open access journal. Results will also be disseminated at conferences, seminars, congresses and 21symposia and to relevant stakeholders.

KW - Self-harm

KW - suicide low and middle 14income countries, LMICs

KW - attitudes

KW - knowledge

KW - experience

KW - quantitative

KW - qualitative

KW - low and middle income countries

U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041645

DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041645

M3 - Article

C2 - 34158289

VL - 11

JO - BMJ Open

JF - BMJ Open

SN - 2044-6055

IS - 6

M1 - e041645

ER -