Main collaborators: Madeleine Jaeger, Thomas Niederkrotenthaler

Funding: FWF (P 36769)

The current project aims to explore the impact of different versions of a film about a suicidal crisis that differ with regard to the portrayed outcomes of the crisis (i.e., concluding with the suicide of the protagonist vs. concluding with overcoming of the crisis), but are identical in all other aspects. The project involves interviews with the filmmakers on the factors that influenced them in their decision making process during film production as well as a randomized controlled trial and focus groups to examine the impact of the different film versions.

Main collaborators: Brigitte Naderer, Thomas Niederkrotenthaler

Funding: FWF (P 36029)

This project involves three steps: First, the project aims to explore how terrorist attacks are reported in the Austrian and German print-media with a content analysis. Second, interviews with individuals who have experienced Islamic or right-wing extremist radicalization will be conducted in order to explore what role media reports on terrorism play in individual radicalization processes. Finally, a randomized controlled trial will be conducted to examine how different types of media reports on terrorism impact readers and whether current media recommendations for reporting on mass shootings are effective.

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Main collaborators: Stefanie Kirchner, Thomas Niederkrotenthaler

Funding: FWF (P 36388)

In this project, different types of suicide prevention websites will be developed and tested. The project will use a “framed field” experimental design in order to explore the impact of the websites on users’ suicide risk and help-seeking behavior. Furthermore, a natural field experiment will be used to examine users’ surfing and clicking behavior on the website in a natural setting.

COVID-19: Mental health in Austria over 9 months of the pandemic.

Main collaborators: Zrinka Laido, Benedikt Till, Stefanie Kirchner

Funding: WWTF COVID-19 Rapid Response Funding. Covid-19: Mental Health in Austria. February 2021 tria. Cov-20-027. WWTF. 49,800.— €.

We assessed mental health including suicidal thoughts, depressive symptoms, anxiety and domestic violence in representative samples of the Austrian population in 12 waves in the first pandemic year. We assessed changes in mental health outcomes over time and in relation to periods of lockdowns.

Publications:

Evaluation of the 'Breaking the Silence' suicide prevention media campaign in Oregon, April 7-14, 2019.

Main collaborators: Zrinka Laido, Benedikt Till

Funding: Vibrant Emotional Health (formerly Mental Health Association of New York City)

The goal of this project was to evaluate the impact of the suicide prevention media campaign scheduled from April 7 – 14, 2019 in Oregon. The campaign promoted the adoption of coping strategies and help-seeking in lieu of suicidal behavior, following best practices as outlined in published recommendations for the reporting of suicide.

Overall, the evaluation analyzed the content of the campaign’s media stories (across a broad range of media), the reach and influence of the campaign (by analyzing largescale social media data from Twitter and Instagram), and the campaign’s impact on several indices of help-seeking behavior and suicide risk in Oregon.

Publications:

Effects of It Gets Better Suicide Prevention Videos Targeting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual May 2022 and Questioning Adolescents.

Main collaborator: Stefanie Kirchner

Funding: Austrian Science Fund, Stand Alone Grant P-30918-B27

The project involved a qualitative study and a randomized controlled trial to test the effects of short TV spots delivered by LGBTQ+ persons to support young adolescent LGBTQ+ persons in their coming-out.

Publications:

Suicide Prevention Public Service Announcements (PSAs) Targeting Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Main collaborator: Marlies Braun

Funding: Austrian Science Fund, Clinical Research Grant KLI627

The project involved the development of suicide prevention PSAs by students 14-17 years of age; interviews with students and a randomized controlled trial to test the effects of the videos.

Publications:

Representations and Impact of Suicide-related Websites

Main collaborator: Benedikt Till

Funding: Austrian Science Fund, grant P23659

The project involved three major components. To evaluate results obtained with suicide-related search terms using Google and Bing search engines in the United States and in Austria; to identify themes and interactions in online communication related to suicide and mental health in both so-called “pro-suicide” and “againstsuicide” online threads using content analysis; and to evaluate the effects of suicide prevention websites in a randomized controlled trial.

Publications:

Funding: Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW). Grant 70036; 276,000.– €. (ad personam: 78,000.– €).

The project involved an assessment of prevalent characteristics of suicide portrayals as published in traditional Austrian print media with content analysis based on media recommendations for suicide reporting, and an evaluation of the possible impact of the recommendations on the quality of reporting and on suicide prevalence.

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