Psychology Essay: Implementing Suicide Awareness in Singapore

This psychology essay examines the alarming rise of teenage suicide rates in Singapore, highlighting the urgency of implementing effective prevention strategies. It delves into the social factors contributing to increased suicidal tendencies among teenagers, emphasizing the need for a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about suicide risk factors. The essay proposes a comprehensive five-step national campaign, including audience segmentation, risk factor review, hopeful messaging, resource utilization, and participant empowerment. It emphasizes the importance of addressing mental health concerns, academic pressure, and social relationships, while also considering emerging factors like cyberbullying. The essay stresses the need for government collaboration with public health organizations, utilizing multimedia public service announcements and targeted awareness materials. Furthermore, it underscores the significance of providing support tools and fostering open communication to combat the pervasive misconceptions surrounding suicide and create a supportive environment for at-risk individuals. The ultimate goal is to empower participants to understand the risk factors and speak up about their concerns.

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Running head:PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology
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Incidents of teenage suicide among Singapore citizens have grabbed significant
attention in recent times, entailing the urgent implementation of preventive strategies. The
social factors that contribute to increased suicidal tendencies among teenagers in the country
are to be addressed adequately if a positive change is to be brought about at the earliest. The
present essay discusses how a national wide campaign could be implemented for the
promotion of awareness of suicide risk factors among teenagers in Singapore. The paper
would also address factors in society that contribute to the increased risk of suicide among
the selected population in the country.
The suicide rate is an important marker of the health of a nation. It is a notable cause
of mortality in youth and adolescents, and it has been noted that suicide has peak prevalence
in adolescence in a number of countries. Suicide among teenagers poses a great burden to
individuals, their families and society (Chen et al., 2011). The teenage suicide rate in
Singapore has drawn the attention of the concerned authorities who are still struggling to find
effective and apt strategies that can prevent the rising prevalence of this issue among the
population. Suicides among teenagers have become a significant element of the national
healthcare agenda that points out the failure of healthcare bodies to address the concern
adequately. The year 2015 saw Singapore make a record of the most number of teen
suicides in one and half decade. 27 teenagers had committed suicide in the year 2015, aged
between 10 and 19 years. This number was significantly high from 13 teenagers committing
suicide in 2014 (Tianjie, 2016).
Chia and Chia (2012) pointed out that young adults in Singapore who reach out to
suicide prevention agencies cite academic pressure, mental health concerns and social
relationships as the maximum source of stress. Individuals who are secretive, and suffer
from issues of self-esteem and problem solving skills are at higher risk of attempting suicide.

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In addition to commonly known causes of stress suffered such as academic and social issues,
other emerging factors also contribute to high suicide rates, including cyber bullying.
Individuals suffering from mental illness are more likely to commit suicide. Having a
negative influence on people both physically and psychologically, the mental health
conditions are known to directly contribute to suicidal behaviour. For the past few years, the
official bodies governing public health are encouraging people to fight against suicidal
tendencies, but suicide prevention has been felt to be more than the creation of awareness.
What is needed at the resent hour is the right conversations about suicide. The lack of
sensitivity among the public till now reflects the crucial need for the teenagers to have a
better understanding of the risk factors for suicide and the turmoil it brings along. There is a
pervasiveness of misconceptions regarding suicide among the society, and thus it is vital to
creating a supportive environment for those who are at risk (Chia & Chia, 2012).
The government of Singapore in collaboration with the different noted public
health organisations must come forward to develop, produce and disseminate targeted, safe
and effective suicide prevention awareness campaign. The key to raise awareness about the
risk factors of suicide among teenagers lies in the suitable combination of national
multimedia public service announcements and dissemination of suicide prevention
awareness materials (Loh et al., 2012). The national campaign is to be based on five
fundamental elements, drawing in from a pool of evidence available on the success of
previous similar campaigns of other countries. The campaign is to be implemented following
a series of five steps- evaluation of relevant data; review of risk factors of suicide; emphasis
on powerful and hopeful messaging; utilisation of effective resources; and empowerment
of participants with tools to communicate (Kahn & Lester, 2013).

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The first step of the national campaign would be segmenting the audience and
evaluation of suicide risk factors specific for Singapore. Segmenting the audience around age,
shared values and cultural backgrounds would be crucial in the development of the campaign.
Suicidal attempts, planning and thoughts have been found to be significantly higher among
teenagers above the age of 15 years in Singapore. The age group of 15-28 years would be the
primary target audience for this campaign. Both the genders would be given equal weight in
the campaign as there are negligible differences among male and female when it comes to the
suicide rate. It would be equally significant to put the focus on the nuances within the target
audience (Kahn & Lester, 2013).
The second stage would be to review suicide awarningsigns.Extensive research is to
be undertaken to highlight the signs of suicidal thoughts that are to be addressed in the first
place. Knowing the differences between self-harm, suicidal behaviour and high-risk improve
the outreach efforts. In the Singapore context, it has been found that mental disorders,
substance abuse and life events equally contribute to suicidal tendencies. The third and
successive step would be to emphasise powerful and hopeful messaging. The campaign
facilitator has the key responsibility of developing a strong message that can attract the
attention of the target audience and compel them to think in the direction as desired. While
developing the message, it is necessary to emphasise on the hope of recovery through the
messaging. The power of personal and long-standing relationships are to be highlighted in
due course. One must avoid reporting that suicide has a key link with any single event.
Further, suicide is not to be framed as an inexplicable or is not supposed to be normalised
(Kahn & Lester, 2013).
The fourth and most significant step would be to utilise effective and valuable
resources. Sufficient workforce who are skilled and competent would be needed for this

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purpose who are to exhibit collaboration and leadership (Kahn & Lester, 2013). Further,
sustained funding is to be made possible by government funding. In addition to finance,
human resources would be a significant tangible factor for the ultimate outcome of the
campaign. Most important would be however the promotional materials selected. The public
service announcements would be done on radios, television, print ads, digital banner
advertisements and billboards. Suicide risk factor and impact awareness materials specific for
the target group are to be made in the form of posters, brochures and classroom curriculum.
Billboard graphics are a good medium for reaching to the audience around the year.
Brochures and posters are effective in reaching out to the audience in schools, clinics, and
other community settings. Educational and interactive programs can be designed for schools.
Print advertisement graphics are to be used for distribution to magazines, specifically teen
magazines, newspapers and other print publications (Wasserman et al., 2015). Research
indicates that specific materials are more effective and have been more successful in the past
in other countries in reaching the target audience.
Empowering the participants to understand the risk factors for suicide is essential and
the last step. The overarching goal of all campaigns rests in the implementation of the plan
outlined. With the audience in mind, a slogan is to e created, and outreach materials are to be
made. The participants are to be empowered for speaking up and coming forward with their
concerns. Further, they are to be taught to respond to the materials appropriately. Participants
are also to be equipped with tools for support and help (McKenzie et al., 2016).
In conclusion, by exploring the popular trend among Singapore culture to focus on
multimedia public service announcements together with the exploitation of the potential of
awareness materials, attention can be brought to the issue of high risk of suicide in the
country. It is expected that with adequate funding from the government and employment of

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skilled workforce, the national campaign would be effective in spreading awareness of
suicide risk factors among teenagers in Singapore.

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References
Chen, Y. Y., Chien-Chang Wu, K., Yousuf, S., & Yip, P. S. (2011). Suicide in Asia:
opportunities and challenges. Epidemiologic reviews, 34(1), 129-144.
Chia, B. H., & Chia, A. (2012). Prevention of suicide in Singapore. Annals of the Academy of
Medicine-Singapore, 41(9), 375.
Kahn, D. L., & Lester, D. (2013). Efforts to decriminalize suicide in Ghana, India and
Singapore. Suicidology Online, 4, 96-104.
Loh, C., Tai, B. C., Ng, W. Y., Chia, A., & Chia, B. H. (2012). Suicide in young
Singaporeans aged 10–24 years between 2000 to 2004. Archives of suicide
research, 16(2), 174-182.
McKenzie, J. F., Neiger, B. L., & Thackeray, R. (2016). Planning, implementing &
evaluating health promotion programs: A primer. Pearson.
Tianjie, W. (2016). Teen suicides highest in 15 years but overall rate falls: SOS. The Straits
Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/teen-suicides-highest-
in-15-years-but-overall-rate-falls
Wasserman, D., Hoven, C. W., Wasserman, C., Wall, M., Eisenberg, R., Hadlaczky, G., ... &
Bobes, J. (2015). School-based suicide prevention programmes: the SEYLE cluster-
randomised, controlled trial. The Lancet, 385(9977), 1536-1544.