School of Nursing, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Department of Psychiatry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Am J Mens Health. 2023 Sep-Oct;17(5):15579883231209189. doi: 10.1177/15579883231209189.
Suicide is a major public health concern and leading cause of death among men in Canada. This study reports the feasibility and acceptability of Buddy Up, a peer-based suicide prevention campaign for men. A mixed-methods approach was used to analyze respondent survey questionnaires ( = 48) and individual participant interviews ( = 19) collected from campaign users. Survey respondents reported that they enjoyed their involvement in the campaign (92%), were more confident to talk with men about mental health and suicide (95%), and would recommend Buddy Up to others (95%). Qualitative interviews were thematically analyzed to develop three inductively derived themes: (a) Engaging men with relatable masculine content and design: "Buddy Up really spoke to them in their language," highlighting the importance of understanding and working with gendered practices and motivations to legitimize and motivate involvement in suicide prevention; (b) Leveraging campaign participation to initiate conversations and promote mental health: "It gives men language and license to start asking questions," revealing ways in which participants utilized Buddy Up to negotiate and norm checking-in to promote men's mental health; and (c) Driving new masculine cultures: "We start every meeting with a mental health moment," identifying how participants fostered healthy milieus for disclosing mental health challenges with teamwork and preventive action under the banner of Buddy Up. The study findings support the feasibility of Buddy Up and highlight the acceptability of peer-based approaches to mental health promotion. The findings can also empirically guide future efforts for systematically building men's peer-based suicide prevention programs.
自杀是加拿大的一个主要公共卫生问题，也是男性的主要死因之一。本研究报告了基于同伴的男性自杀预防活动“伙伴支持”（Buddy Up）的可行性和可接受性。该研究采用混合方法分析了从活动参与者那里收集的受访者调查问卷（n = 48）和个人参与者访谈（n = 19）。调查受访者报告说，他们喜欢参与该活动（92%），更有信心与男性谈论心理健康和自杀问题（95%），并会向他人推荐“伙伴支持”（95%）。对定性访谈进行了主题分析，以得出三个归纳得出的主题：（a）用相关的男性化内容和设计吸引男性：“伙伴支持”真的用他们的语言与他们对话，强调理解和与性别化实践和动机合作的重要性，以使参与自杀预防合法化并激发动力；（b）利用活动参与来发起对话和促进心理健康：“这为男性提供了语言和许可来开始提问，”揭示了参与者如何利用“伙伴支持”来协商和规范定期询问，以促进男性的心理健康；（c）推动新的男性化文化：“我们每次会议都以心理健康时刻开始，”确定了参与者如何通过团队合作和以“伙伴支持”为旗帜采取预防行动来营造健康的环境，以公开心理健康挑战。研究结果支持“伙伴支持”的可行性，并强调了基于同伴的心理健康促进方法的可接受性。这些发现还可以为系统地建立男性基于同伴的自杀预防计划提供经验指导。
