3
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Effectiveness of partial restriction of access to means in jumping suicide: lessons from four bridges in three countries

      research-article
      , , , ,
      Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences
      Cambridge University Press
      bridge, epidemiology, mental health, suicide

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Aims

          Restricting access to means by installing physical barriers has been shown to be the most effective intervention in preventing jumping suicides on bridges. However, little is known about the effectiveness of partial restriction with interventions that still allow jumping from the bridge.

          Methods

          This study used a quasi-experimental design. Public sites that met our inclusion criteria were identified using Google search and data on jumping suicides on Bridge A (South Korea), Bridges B and C (the United States) and Bridge D (Canada) were obtained from the relevant datasets. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were estimated using Poisson regressions comparing suicide numbers before and after the installation of physical structures at each site.

          Results

          Fences with sensor wires and spinning handrails installed above existing railings on the Bridge A, and fences at each side of the entrances and the midpoint of main suspension cables on the Bridge D were associated with significant reductions in suicides (IRR 0.37, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.26   0.54; 0.26, 95% CI 0.09 − 0.76). Installation of bird spike on the parapet on the Bridge B, and fences at the front of seating alcoves on the Bridge C were not associated with changes in suicides (1.21, 95% CI 0.88 − 1.68; 1.49, 95% CI 0.56 − 3.98).

          Conclusions

          Partial means restriction (such as fences with sensor wires and spinning bars at the top, and partial fencing at selected points) on bridges appears to be helpful in preventing suicide. Although these interventions are unlikely to be as effective as interventions that fully secure the bridge and completely prevent jumping, they might best be thought of as temporary solutions before more complete or permanent structures are implemented.

          Related collections

          Most cited references19

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          The bystander-effect: a meta-analytic review on bystander intervention in dangerous and non-dangerous emergencies.

          Research on bystander intervention has produced a great number of studies showing that the presence of other people in a critical situation reduces the likelihood that an individual will help. As the last systematic review of bystander research was published in 1981 and was not a quantitative meta-analysis in the modern sense, the present meta-analysis updates the knowledge about the bystander effect and its potential moderators. The present work (a) integrates the bystander literature from the 1960s to 2010, (b) provides statistical tests of potential moderators, and (c) presents new theoretical and empirical perspectives on the novel finding of non-negative bystander effects in certain dangerous emergencies as well as situations where bystanders are a source of physical support for the potentially intervening individual. In a fixed effects model, data from over 7,700 participants and 105 independent effect sizes revealed an overall effect size of g = -0.35. The bystander effect was attenuated when situations were perceived as dangerous (compared with non-dangerous), perpetrators were present (compared with non-present), and the costs of intervention were physical (compared with non-physical). This pattern of findings is consistent with the arousal-cost-reward model, which proposes that dangerous emergencies are recognized faster and more clearly as real emergencies, thereby inducing higher levels of arousal and hence more helping. We also identified situations where bystanders provide welcome physical support for the potentially intervening individual and thus reduce the bystander effect, such as when the bystanders were exclusively male, when they were naive rather than passive confederates or only virtually present persons, and when the bystanders were not strangers.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Interventions to reduce suicides at suicide hotspots: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

            Various interventions have been introduced to try to prevent suicides at suicide hotspots, but evidence of their effectiveness needs to be strengthened.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Effect of barriers on the Clifton suspension bridge, England, on local patterns of suicide: implications for prevention.

              We assessed the effect of the installation of barriers on the Clifton suspension bridge, Bristol, England, in 1998 on local suicides by jumping. Deaths from this bridge halved from 8.2 per year (1994-1998) to 4.0 per year (1999-2003; P=0.008). Although 90% of the suicides from the bridge were by males, there was no evidence of an increase in male suicide by jumping from other sites in the Bristol area after the erection of the barriers. This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of barriers on bridges in preventing site-specific suicides and suicides by jumping overall in the surrounding area.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci
                Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci
                EPS
                Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences
                Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, UK )
                2045-7960
                2045-7979
                2024
                18 September 2024
                : 33
                : e38
                Affiliations
                [1]Centre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne , Carlton, VIC, Australia
                Author notes
                Corresponding author: Sangsoo Shin; Email: sangsoo.shin1@ 123456unimelb.edu.au
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6698-2113
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2538-4472
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6129-3404
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2841-1536
                Article
                S2045796024000428
                10.1017/S2045796024000428
                11450421
                39291543
                684e0802-a8b2-4e36-b0f4-a588d2994afc
                © The Author(s) 2024

                This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.

                History
                : 21 March 2024
                : 26 May 2024
                : 02 June 2024
                Page count
                Tables: 2, References: 22, Pages: 5
                Categories
                Original Article

                bridge,epidemiology,mental health,suicide
                bridge, epidemiology, mental health, suicide

                Comments

                Comment on this article

                scite_
                0
                0
                0
                0
                Smart Citations
                0
                0
                0
                0
                Citing PublicationsSupportingMentioningContrasting
                View Citations

                See how this article has been cited at scite.ai

                scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.

                Similar content211

                Most referenced authors144