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Online interactive suicide support services: quality and accessibility

Online interactive suicide support services: quality and accessibility Purpose – Little research has focused on the quality and availability of interactive online support services retrieved through search engines. The purpose of this paper is twofold; first, to review and assess the availability and accessibility of interactive online support available to individuals in suicidal crisis. Second, to field test a new tool developed specifically to evaluate both the quality of online information and the quality of interactive support. Design/methodology/approach – A collection of six terms relating to suicidal distress were generated and inputted across three major search engines (Google, Yahoo and Ask). Following initial exclusions, the remaining web sites were analysed using the SPAT (Site, Publisher, Audience and Timeliness) tool and recently developed COSAT (Crisis and Online Support Appraisal Tool) tool. Findings – The quality of web sites retrieved was variable, with only 1.9 per cent deemed as high‐quality interactive support resources. Google had the greatest precision of searching, but ease of access through search engines was generally limited. No significant difference was found in the quality of web sites located on pages 1 or 2 of search engine results. Overall, community and voluntary sector web sites averaged higher quality and interactive support rating's compared to publicly funded web sites. Research limitations/implications – The newly developed COSAT tool may provide a positive first step towards a standardised measure of online quality and interactive support, although further testing and validation is required with a larger sample size. Originality/value – To the authors knowledge little research has focused on the quality and availability of interactive online support services retrieved through search engines. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Mental Health Review Journal Emerald Publishing

Online interactive suicide support services: quality and accessibility

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References (90)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1361-9322
DOI
10.1108/MHRJ-03-2013-0009
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – Little research has focused on the quality and availability of interactive online support services retrieved through search engines. The purpose of this paper is twofold; first, to review and assess the availability and accessibility of interactive online support available to individuals in suicidal crisis. Second, to field test a new tool developed specifically to evaluate both the quality of online information and the quality of interactive support. Design/methodology/approach – A collection of six terms relating to suicidal distress were generated and inputted across three major search engines (Google, Yahoo and Ask). Following initial exclusions, the remaining web sites were analysed using the SPAT (Site, Publisher, Audience and Timeliness) tool and recently developed COSAT (Crisis and Online Support Appraisal Tool) tool. Findings – The quality of web sites retrieved was variable, with only 1.9 per cent deemed as high‐quality interactive support resources. Google had the greatest precision of searching, but ease of access through search engines was generally limited. No significant difference was found in the quality of web sites located on pages 1 or 2 of search engine results. Overall, community and voluntary sector web sites averaged higher quality and interactive support rating's compared to publicly funded web sites. Research limitations/implications – The newly developed COSAT tool may provide a positive first step towards a standardised measure of online quality and interactive support, although further testing and validation is required with a larger sample size. Originality/value – To the authors knowledge little research has focused on the quality and availability of interactive online support services retrieved through search engines.

Journal

Mental Health Review Journal – Emerald Publishing

Published: Nov 29, 2013

Keywords: Internet; Crisis; Suicide; Help seeking; Interactive; Search engine

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