Project:
Leonore Hanssens
Nurse, Researcher PhD Candidate, Centre for Remote Health

Funding:
Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy Grant

Indigenous suicide has escalated rapidly in the Northern Territory - by 800% among Indigenous men in the past two decades - but there has been little evidence as to what has triggered this public health tragedy or what might help reverse it.

This primary health care research examined the effect of suicide clusters in the NT, a unique and discrete phenomenon in which a single suicide seems to precipitate a series of other suicides and, in some cases, further ‘echo’ clusters.

Using data from 1996 to 2005 collected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the National Coroner’s Information System, the research analysis revealed 77% of Indigenous suicides occurred in clusters, far exceeding rates across the population, which are around 5-10%.

It also showed that people vulnerable to suicide tended to group together well before the occurrence of any overt suicidal stimulus. It appears rapid social change is affecting a subgroup of young, male, married, unemployed Indigenous men.

With this new insight, researcher Leonore Hanssens concluded that half of the total Indigenous suicides in the Northern Territory were potentially preventable with culturally appropriate and timely responses to the cluster phenomenon.

This important research has shed light onto the escalating physical, social and economic effects suicide is having on communities. Its evidence has already contributed to suicide prevention and capacity building workshops initiated by Suicide Prevention Australia and partnered by the Commonwealth Government.

View the project abstract on ROAR