Symposia
Suicide and Self-Injury
Brian Bauer, M.S.
Graduate Student
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Raymond P. Tucker, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Shawn Gilroy, PhD
Assistant Professor
Louisiana State university
Baton rouge, LA
Dan Capron, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Crisis resources (e.g., crisis lines, safety plans) are widely available, yet most people choose not to engage with these materials despite it likely being in their best interests (Jaroszewski et al., 2019). One reason for this phenomenon is that past messaging strategies used by suicide prevention researchers and organizations do not account for the limitations of human cognition and have not used personalization techniques. Leveraging reliable decision-making errors (i.e., using nudges) has been effective in influencing individuals toward preferred behaviors, including engaging with crisis resources (Bauer et al., 2019). Although nudges are effective, research clearly indicates that people respond differently to various nudges (Matz et al., 2017). Thus, tailoring nudges to a group’s preference may substantially increases their effectiveness. Critically, previously used one-size-fits-all approaches to using nudges inherently selects the messaging preference of majority populations and excludes underrepresented communities with elevated suicide rates such as LGBTQ and young Black adults.
Pilot data from two samples provided evidence that personalizing nudges – tailoring messages to personality, demographics, and cognitive heuristics – was more effective than using a one-size-fits-all nudge or a message without a nudge. Currently, we are recruiting 3,000 participants to obtain data on their personalities, decision-making styles, demographics, etc., and correlating these variables with Facebook data (e.g., groups, interests). Using this information, we will personalize nudges for specific groups (i.e., LGBTQ, young Black adults) through Facebook advertisements. We are creating separate webpages for each advertisement to test if personalizing nudges increases engagement with two crisis resources: crisis lines and safety plans. Data on preferences (N = 3,000) will be collected by August 2022. In addition to this preference data, we will also present initial engagement results at the conference. Personalization methods could increase the effectiveness of nudges, be a more time- and cost-effective methodology for suicide prevention public health messaging, and help engage underrepresented communities.