Analysis of Japanese Articles about Suicides Involving Charcoal Burning or Hydrogen Sulfide Gas

Yoshihiro Nabeshima, Daisuke Onozuka, Takanari Kitazono and Akihito Hagihara
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Yoshihiro Nabeshima: Department of Medicine and Clinical Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
Daisuke Onozuka: Department of Health Communication, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
Takanari Kitazono: Department of Medicine and Clinical Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
Akihito Hagihara: Department of Health Communication, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-12

Abstract: It is well known that certain types of media reports about suicide can result in imitative suicides. In the last two decades, Japan has experienced two suicide epidemics and the subsequent excessive media coverage of these events. However, the quality of the media suicide reports has yet to be evaluated in terms of the guidelines for media suicide coverage. Thus, the present study analyzed Japanese newspaper articles ( n = 4007) on suicides by charcoal burning or hydrogen sulfide gas between 11 February 2003 and 13 March 2010. The suicide reports were evaluated in terms of the extent to which they conformed to the suicide reporting guidelines. The mean violation scores were 3.06 (±0.7) for all articles, 3.2 (±0.8) for articles about suicide by charcoal burning, and 2.9 (±0.7) for articles about suicide by hydrogen sulfide ( p < 0.001). With the exception of not following several recommendations, newspaper articles about suicide have improved in quality, as defined by the recommendations for media suicide coverage. To prevent imitative suicides based on media suicide reports, individuals in the media should try not to report suicide methods and to make attempts to report the poor condition of suicide survivors.

Keywords: charcoal; hydrogen sulfide; suicide; newspaper article; report; World Health Organization (WHO); guideline (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:10:p:1013-:d:80590

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