Information and communications technology use in suicide prevention: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND The use of information and communications technology (ICT) in suicide prevention has progressed rapidly over the past decade. ICT plays a major role in suicide prevention but research regarding best and promising practices has lagged behind. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to scope the existing literature on ICT use in suicide prevention in order to answer the following question: What are the best and promising ICT practices for suicide prevention? METHODS A scoping search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, PsycInfo, Sociological Abstracts, and IEEE Xplore. These were searched for articles published from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2018. Five stages were followed: (1) identify research question, (2) target relevant studies, (3) select studies, (4) chart data, and (5) collate, summarize and report results. The World Health Organisation suicide prevention model was used according to the continuum of universal, selective and indicated prevention [1]. RESULTS Of 3848 studies found, 115 were selected. Of these, 10 regarded the use of ICT in universal suicide prevention, 53 referred to the use of ICT in selective suicide prevention and 52 dealt with the use of ICT in indicated suicide prevention. CONCLUSIONS The use of ICT plays a major role in suicide prevention and many promising programs were identified through this scoping review. However, larger-scaled evaluation studies are needed to further examine the effectiveness of these programs and strategies. Also, safety and ethics protocols for ICT-based interventions are recommended. CLINICALTRIAL