Chatsafe Netherlands: Improving Safe Suicide Communication for Young People on Social Media

Suicide is the leading cause of death among young people (YP) aged 10 to 25 years in the Netherlands. In addition, YP report high rates of suicidal ideation (16%). While suicidal behavior is a complex phenomenon with many factors and causes, the role of social media is becoming more prominent, especially for YP. Social media has been shown to be a source where YP can find support, but it's also a place where suicidal behavior is glorified or normalized, which can be triggering or harmful to other social media consumers. The #Chatsafe guidelines were developed by Orygen Australia to better equip young people to communicate safely about suicide on social media. These guidelines are supported by a social media campaign to make the content of the guidelines more accessible to them. The #Chatsafe intervention consists of both the guidelines and the social media campaign. A small-scale Australian feasibility study showed promising results in terms of the acceptance and safety of the campaign, and safety regarding communicating about suicide on social media platforms. Currently, in Australia it is tested to what extent these results hold up in a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) (Robinson et al., 2023). With funding from the Dutch National Agenda for Suicide Prevention, a contextualized replication study is conducted. The aim of this study is to determine whether the #Chatsafe intervention has an effect on the way in which Dutch YP communicate online about suicide.