Understanding the utility of "Talk-to-Me" an online suicide prevention program for Australian university students

Journal article


Afsharnejad, Bahareh, Milbourn, Ben, Brown, Cherylee, Clifford, Rhonda, Foley, Kitty-Rose, Logan, Alexandra, Lund, Stephan, Machingura, Tawanda, Mcauliffe, Tomomi, Mozolic-Staunton, Beth, Sharp, Nicole, Hayden-Evans, Maya, Baker Young, Ellie, Black, Melissa, Zimmermann, Frank, Kacic, Viktor, Bolte, Sven and Girdler, Sonya. Understanding the utility of "Talk-to-Me" an online suicide prevention program for Australian university students. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 53(5), pp. 725-738. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12978
AuthorsAfsharnejad, Bahareh, Milbourn, Ben, Brown, Cherylee, Clifford, Rhonda, Foley, Kitty-Rose, Logan, Alexandra, Lund, Stephan, Machingura, Tawanda, Mcauliffe, Tomomi, Mozolic-Staunton, Beth, Sharp, Nicole, Hayden-Evans, Maya, Baker Young, Ellie, Black, Melissa, Zimmermann, Frank, Kacic, Viktor, Bolte, Sven and Girdler, Sonya
Abstract

Background
Australian university students are at risk of experiencing poor mental health, being vulnerable to self-harm and suicidal ideation.

Aim
“Talk-to-Me” is a suicide ideation prevention Massive open online course (MOOC) previously showing it can support Western Australian university students' knowledge of identifying and responding to suicide ideation in themselves and others.

Methods
A multi-site one-group pre-test/post-test design with a 12-week follow-up explored the efficacy of “Talk-to-Me” for university students Australia-wide, evaluating the influence of COVID-19 and location. Overall, 217 students (55% female; mage = 24.93 years [18, 60]) enrolled in this study from 2020 to 2021. Participants' responses to suicidal statements, mental health literacy, generalized self-efficacy, help-seeking behavior, and overall utility of the program were collected at baseline, post-MOOC (10 weeks from baseline) and 12-week follow-up. The effect of time and location interaction was explored using a random-effects regression model.

Results
Findings indicated significant improvement in participants' knowledge of positive mental health support strategies (ES = 0.42, p < 0.001) and recognizing appropriate responses to suicidal statements (ES = 0.37, p < 0.001) at 10-weeks, with further improvement at 12 weeks follow-up (ES = 0.47 and 0.46, p < 0.001). Students reported higher generalized self-efficacy at the 12-week follow-up compared to baseline (ES = 0.19, p = 0.03) and an increased tendency to seek professional help for mental health issues (ES = 0.22, p = 0.02).

Conclusion
These findings provide preliminary evidence of the efficacy of the “Talk-to-Me” program in supporting ‎university students across Australia to increase their suicide-related knowledge and skills, ‎general self-efficacy, and overall mental fitness.

KeywordsMass Open Online Course (MOOC); mental health education; suicide prevention program; university students
JournalSuicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
Journal citation53 (5), pp. 725-738
PublisherWiley Periodicals LLC
ISSN0363-0234
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12978
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderDeutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
Healthway, Western Australia
Australian New Zealand Allied Health Professional Educator organisation (ANZAHPE)‎
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online01 Aug 2023
Publication process dates
Accepted11 Jul 2023
Deposited03 Apr 2025
Grant ID57511161‎
33212‎
Additional information

© 2023 The Authors. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association of Suicidology.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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