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Changing Social Norms

There is some evidence to suggest that population-level interventions which target a whole community can make an important contribution to the overall suicide prevention effort. Specifically, a community-wide, multi-layered intervention that focused on reducing modifiable risk factors and enhancing protective factors was implemented by the US Air Force over the period 1990-2002.32 Strategies included: reducing the stigma around help-seeking, improving understanding of mental health issues and changing policies and social norms. Results indicate that following the multi-layered intervention, which targeted the whole community, there was a sustained decline in rates of suicide and other adverse outcomes, including accidental death, homicide, and family violence.

Additional support for population-level interventions aimed at promoting mentally healthy communities can be found in the recently produced report, Creating Mentally Health Communities: A Collection of Papers (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2008)