1 HKJC Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, SAR.
2 Social Work Department, The University of Hong Kong, SAR.
Crisis. 2017 Jul;38(4):269-277. doi: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000449. Epub 2017 Mar 24.
The use of the helium suicide method has been increasing in popularity in Hong Kong since 2012. We have learned a valuable lesson in curbing the spread of charcoal burning (CB) suicide in the past 15 years and hope to prevent the helium suicide method from taking off in the community.
To document what actions have been taken to contain the spread of the helium suicide method and review the preliminary impact of these actions.
We adopted a public health approach by engaging stakeholders from multiple sectors, including the police force, the fire services department, coroners, pathologists, mass media, and online media outlets.
A monitoring system was established by compiling data extracted from news reports, coroners' reports, and police investigations. Risk and protective factors were identified. Intervention strategies were developed to strengthen protective factors and minimize risk factors. This novel suicide method has not spread as rapidly as the CB suicide method. The preliminary outcomes suggest our actions to be effective.
The count of helium suicides in 2015 might be low. The impacts of the interventions are only estimated and require additional empirical verifications.
The public health approach of engaging multiple partners in the early phase of a potential epidemic can be a good guide to meeting the challenges posed by any new suicide methods that emerge in the future.
自 2012 年以来，氦气自杀在香港越来越流行。在过去的 15 年里，我们在遏制烧炭（CB）自杀的传播方面吸取了宝贵的经验教训，希望能防止氦气自杀方法在社区中蔓延。
记录已采取哪些行动来遏制氦气自杀方法的传播，并审查这些行动的初步影响。
我们采用了公共卫生方法，让来自多个领域的利益相关者参与，包括警察部队、消防部门、验尸官、病理学家、大众媒体和在线媒体。
通过从新闻报道、验尸官报告和警方调查中提取数据，建立了一个监测系统。确定了风险和保护因素。制定了干预策略，以加强保护因素和减少风险因素。这种新的自杀方法并没有像烧炭自杀那样迅速传播。初步结果表明我们的行动是有效的。
2015 年氦气自杀的数量可能较低。干预措施的影响只是估计的，需要进一步的实证验证。
在潜在的流行早期阶段，让多个合作伙伴参与公共卫生方法可以很好地指导我们应对未来出现的任何新的自杀方法所带来的挑战。
