Best Practices for Suicide Prevention Messaging and Evaluating California's "Know the Signs" Media Campaign

Abstract. Background: Although communication is a key component of US strategies to prevent suicide and there are a number of marketing campaigns promoting messages that suicide is a preventable public health problem, there has been little evaluation of these campaigns. Aims: The study describes the development of a checklist of best practices for suicide prevention communication campaigns and the use of the checklist to evaluate California's investment in "Know the Signs" (KTS-M), a suicide prevention mass media campaign. Method: We conducted a literature review and solicited expert feedback to identify best practices and then used the RAND/UCLA appropriateness method to assess whether KTS-M was consistent with the identified best practices. Results: Overall, experts agreed that KTS-M adhered to most of the 46 checklist items and suggested that the campaign was among the best suicide prevention media campaigns they had observed. Limitations: The checklist was developed through expert input and literature...