Rural Perspectives on Suicide Prevention in Canada
Publication: Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
10 May 2023
Abstract
Rural residence has been identified as a risk factor for suicide, especially for men. Little qualitative research exists on rural suicide, which might help deepen understandings of prevention strategies within rural places. Therefore, virtual focus groups were held across six Canadian provinces to give voice to rural community members and service workers about suicide prevention. Barriers to accessing services and the need to strengthen rural support networks were discussed. Enhancing peer support was highlighted as a strategy to better address the needs of rural Canadians.
Résumé
Le fait d’habiter en zone rurale a été identifié comme un facteur de risque de suicide, en particulier chez les hommes. Il existe peu de recherches qualitatives sur le suicide en zone rurale permettant d’approfondir la compréhension de stratégies de prévention. Pour pallier cette carence, des groupes de discussion virtuels ont été organisés dans six provinces canadiennes afin de donner la parole aux membres des communautés rurales et aux intervenants en prévention du suicide. Les obstacles à l’accès aux services et la nécessité de renforcer les réseaux de soutien en milieu rural ont été discutés. L’amélioration du soutien par les pairs a été mise en évidence comme une stratégie visant à mieux répondre aux besoins des Canadiens en zone rurale.
Formats available
You can view the full content in the following formats:
References
Bachmann S. 2018 Epidemiology of suicide and the psychiatric perspective International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15 7 1 -23 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071425
Barry R., Rehm J., de Oliveira C., Gozdyra P., and Kurdyak P. 2020 Rurality and risk of suicide attempts and death by suicide among people living in four English-speaking high-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 65 7 441 -447 https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743720902655
Braun V. and Clarke V. 2006 Using thematic analysis in psychology Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 77 -101 https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Burrows S., Auger N., Gamache P., and Hamel D. 2013 Leading causes of unintentional injury and suicide mortality in Canadian adults across the urban-rural continuum Public Health Reports 128 6 443 -453 https://doi.org/10.1177/003335491312800604
Canetto S. S. 2017 Suicide: Why are older men so vulnerable? Men and Masculinities 20 1 49 -70 https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X15613832
Caxaj S. C. 2016 A review of mental health approaches for rural communities: Complexities and opportunities in the Canadian context Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health 35 1 30 -45 https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2015-023
Creighton G. M., Oliffe J. L., Lohan M., Ogrodniczuk J. S., and Palm E. 2017a “Things I did not know”: Retrospectives on a Canadian rural male youth suicide using an instrumental photovoice case study Health (United Kingdom) 21 6 616 -632 https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459316638542
Creighton G., Oliffe J., Ogrodniczuk J., and Frank B. 2017b “You’ve gotta be that tough crust exterior man”: Depression and suicide in rural-based men Qualitative Health Research 27 12 1882 -1891 https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732317718148
du Plessis V., Beshiri R., Bollman R. D., Statistics Canada, Clemenson H., and Rural Secretariat, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada 2001 Definitions of rural Rural and Small Town Canada Analysis Bulletin 3 3 1 -17 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/21-006-x/21-006-x2001003-eng.pdf?st=lQpsuB-m
Friesen E. 2019 The landscape of mental health services in rural Canada University of Toronto Medical Journal 96 2 47 -52
Government of Canada. (2021). Suicide in Canada: Key statistics. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/healthy-living/suicide-canada-key-statistics-infographic.html
Haggarty J. M., Ryan-Nicholls K. D., and Jarva J. A. 2010 Mental health collaborative care: A synopsis of the Rural and Isolated Toolkit Rural and Remote Health 10 3 1314 https://doi.org/10.22605/rrh1314
Hayward A., Sjoblom E., Sinclair S., and Cidro J. 2021 A new era of Indigenous research: Community-based Indigenous research ethics protocols in Canada Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics 16 4 403 -417 https://doi.org/10.1177/15562646211023705
Herron R. V., Ahmadu M., Allan J. A., Waddell C. M., and Roger K. 2020 “Talk about it:” Changing masculinities and mental health in rural places? Social Science and Medicine 258 June 113099 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113099
Hunter D., McCallum J., and Howes D. 2019 Defining exploratory-descriptive qualitative (EDQ) research and considering its application to healthcare Journal of Nursing and Health Care 4 1 http://nursing-conf.org/accepted-papers/#acc-5b9bb119a6443
Korczak D. J., Finkelstein Y., Barwick M., Chaim G., Cleverley K., Henderson J., Monga S., Moretti M.E., Willan A., and Szatmari P. 2020 A suicide prevention strategy for youth presenting to the emergency department with suicide related behaviour: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial BMC Psychiatry 20 1 20
Kulig, J., & Williams, A. (2012). Health in rural Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press.
MacLeod M. L. P., Stewart N. J., Kulig J. C., Anguish P., Andrews M. E., Banner D., Garraway L., Hanlon N., Karunanayake C., Kilpatrick K., Koren I., Kosteniuk J., Martin-Misener R., Mix N., Moffitt P., Olynick J., Penz K., Sluggett L., Van Pelt L., Wilson E., and Zimmer L. 2017 Nurses who work in rural and remote communities in Canada: A national survey Human Resources for Health 15 1 34 -11 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-017-0209-0
McIntyre R. S., Lui L. M. W., Rosenblat J. D., Ho R., Gill H., Mansur R. B., and Lee Y. 2021 Suicide reduction in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons informing national prevention strategies for suicide reduction Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 114 10 473 -479 https://doi.org/10.1177/01410768211043186
Ngui A. N., Apparicio P., Moltchanova E., and Vasiliadis H. M. 2014 Spatial analysis of suicide mortality in Québec: Spatial clustering and area factor correlates Psychiatry Research 220 1–2 20 -30 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.07.033
Nowell L. S., Norris J. M., White D. E., and Moules N. J. 2017 Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria International Journal of Qualitative Methods 16 1 https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847
Nyumba T. O., Wilson K., Derrick C. J., and Mukherjee N. 2018 The use of focus group discussion methodology: Insights from two decades of application in conservation Methods in Ecology and Evolution 9 20 -32 https://doi.org.10.1111/2041-210X.12860
Rauch K., Ryan K., Ramsey D., Epp D., Lee S., Herron R., Mullins S., Thomson A., and Waddell-Henowitch C. in press Suicidality in rural communities: A scoping review of research in Canada Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Reed, M. G., & Parkins, J. (2013). Social transformation in rural Canada community, cultures, and collective action. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Roy P., Bilodeau N. B. J., Therrien A., and Verville S. 2020 Projet pilote de formation. Prévenir et promouvoir la santé mentale chez les agriculteurs: S’outiller pour mieux soutenir Revue Canadienne de Santè Mentale Communautaire 39 2 77 -81 https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2020-015
Roy P., Tremblay G., Oliffe J. L., Jbilou J., and Robertson S. 2013 Male farmers with mental health disorders: A scoping review Australian Journal of Rural Health 21 1 3 -7 https://doi.org/10.1111/ajr.12008
Roy P., Tremblay G., Robertson S., and Houle J. 2017 ‘Do it all by myself’: A salutogenic approach of masculine health practice among farming men coping with stress American Journal of Men’s Health 11 5 1536 -1546 https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988315619677
Sareen J., Isaak C., Bolton S. L., Enns M. W., Elias B., Deane F., and Katz L. Y. 2013 Gatekeeper training for suicide prevention in First Nations community members: A randomized controlled trial Depression and Anxiety 30 10 1021 -1029 https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22141
Schlichthorst M., Ozols I., and Reifels A. M. 2020 Lived experience peer support programs for suicide prevention: A systematic scoping review International Journal of Mental Health Systems 14 65 1 -12 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-020-00396-1
Simpson A., Flood C., Rowe J., Quigley J., Henry S., Hall C., Evans R., Sherman P., and Bowers L. 2014 Results of a pilot randomised controlled trial to measure the clinical and cost effectiveness of peer support in increasing hope and quality of life in mental health patients discharged from hospital in the UK BMC Psychiatry 14 1 30 https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-14-30
Sturgeon R. and Morrissette P. J. 2010 A qualitative analysis of suicide ideation among Manitoban farmers Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy 44 2 191 -207
World Health Organization. (2019). Suicide in the world: Global health estimates. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/326948/WHO-MSD-MER-19.3-eng.pdf?ua=1
Zaheer J., Links P., Law S., Shera W., Hodges B., Tsang A. K. T., and Liu P. 2011 Developing a matrix model of rural suicide prevention International Journal of Mental Health 40 4 28 -49 https://doi.org/10.2753/IMH0020-7411400403
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Volume 42 • Number 1 • May 2023
Pages: 1 - 14
History
Version of record online: 10 May 2023
Key Words
Mots-clés
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Other Metrics
Citations
Cite As
Andrea E. Thomson, Candice Waddell-Henowitch, Rachel Herron, Donna Epp, Kyrra Rauch, Kimberley D. Ryan, and Sharran Mullins. 2023. Rural Perspectives on Suicide Prevention in Canada. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.
42(1): 1-14. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2023-003
Export Citations
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
There are no citations for this item
View Options
View options
Get Access
Login options
Check if you access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.
Subscribe
Click on the button below to subscribe to Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
