Recommendations for suicide preventive efforts at a population level (RESPI)
RESPI is a collection of recommendations for evidence-based interventions to reduce suicide and suicide attempts at the community level. The website aims to inform decision-makers in Swedish Regions and Municipalities regarding which interventions should be implemented according to the latest available research.
RESPI is based on literature reviews involving studies on population-based suicide preventive interventions performed continuously by NASP since 2018. Population-based interventions include all interventions carried out at the community level and for populations known to be at risk for suicide.
The website consists of recommendations for interventions to prevent suicide, as well as an overview of societal prerequisites that are believed to be necessary for well-functioning national suicide preventive efforts. Currently, there are nine categories of interventions included in RESPI, namely
- Help and supportive efforts
- Information and media campaigns
- School efforts
- Media reporting
- Decreasing alcohol consumption
- Strengthening of chain of care
- Restriction of suicidal means
- Training of healthcare professionals
- Training of other occupations and gatekeepers
Each category includes an assessment of the overall level of strength of the scientific evidence, a summary of the findings up until the latest update, and a detailed overview of the studies that the evidence is based on. The pages concerning societal prerequisites contain a description of each prerequisite, as well as a summary of findings regarding interventions, if available.
In the most recent update, performed in 2023, the findings of 54 published papers were added to RESPI, of which 15 were meta-analyses, 27 were reviews, and 12 were original studies. Most newly added papers supported the previously assigned evidence grates of the interventions. In 2024, we transitioned to a new review process, by setting up weekly alerts in four databases, namely Web of Science, PubMed, Embase and PsycInfo, using a more refined search string. This will allow us to update the recommendations more frequently and timely as new studies come out.