News reporting of suicidal behaviour in Nigeria
Adherence assessment to World Health Organization guidelines
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19273658 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tosin Philip Oyetunji (0000-0001-8341-7036, University of Ibadan), M Yasir Arafat (0000-0003-0521-5708, Department of Psychiatry, Enam Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh, corresponding author), Famori Stephen Oluwaseyi (University of Ibadan), Obafemi Oluwasanmi (Adekunle Ajasin University), Michael Afolami (Obafemi Awolowo University), Faith Moyo Ajayi (Adekunle Ajasin University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 448-452 |
| Publication date | 2021-08-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Social Psychiatry (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-7640 • E-ISSN: 1741-2854 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020764020963356 |
| PMID | 33023354 |
| OpenAlex | W3092104727 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 19 |
BACKGROUND: Sensible media reporting has been considered an important suicide prevention strategy which is an under-researched issue in Nigeria. There is a dearth of research assessing how the media has been reporting suicidal news to the general population in Nigeria. AIM: It was aimed to see the adherence of news reports to the World Health Organization (WHO) suicide reporting guidelines while reporting the events. METHODS: We searched the published contents of 10 English newspapers of Nigeria and assessed the adherence to the WHO media guidelines for reporting suicide from January 2010 to December 2019. RESULTS: Most of the reports (85.31%) mentioned completed suicides, 4.4% recorded suicides, and 9.5% recorded suicide-related homicides. The majority of the reports mentioned the name (85.6%) and profession (63.8%) of the person; the name of the method (92%) and life events (67.8%). The word 'suicide' was mentioned in the headline of 87.6% of the reports; the method was mentioned in the headline of 22.8% of the reports, and 31.7% of the reports referred to life events in the headline. Only 8.8% of reports had traced mental illness, 33.3% traced the warning signs, 2.8% mentioned evidence of substance abuse and very few reports mentioned educative materials. CONCLUSION: The study found that Nigeria's online newspapers are poorly adherent to the WHO media reporting guidelines. Explicit descriptions of the person, methods, life events, and mono-causal explanations were frequently published. Negligible initiatives have been found to educate the general people in the reports
Advertising · Environmental health · Family medicine · Headline · Medical emergency · Newspaper · Poison control · Population · Psychiatry · Suicide prevention · Medicine · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Mental Health via Writing · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
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| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |