Trial reportBMC public health2017
Silence is deadly: a cluster-randomised controlled trial of a mental health help-seeking intervention for young men.
Trial report in BMC public health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Suicide Prevention Programmes Among Adolescents and Sociocultural Adaptation of Programmes: A Systematic Review.International journal of mental health nursing · 2025Pooled it
- Prevention of self-harm and suicide in young people up to the age of 25 in education settings.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- What are the barriers, facilitators and interventions targeting help-seeking behaviours for common mental health problems in adolescents? A systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- Developing young men's wellbeing through community and school-based programs: A systematic review.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Contextualisation of the safeTALK™ Suicide Prevention Program: A Descriptive Qualitative Study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Technology-Based Interventions to Improve Help-Seeking for Mental Health Concerns: A Systematic Review.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2022Article
- Exploring Teacher and Parent Perspectives on School-Based Masculinities in Relation to Mental Health Promotion.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Tackling Mental Health in Youth Sporting Programs: A Pilot Study of a Holistic Program.Child psychiatry and human development · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundYoung men are consistently less likely to seek help for mental health problems than their female peers. This is particularly concerning given the high rates of suicide among male adolescents. The school system has been identified as an ideal setting for the implementation of prevention and early intervention programs for young people. The current trial aims to determine the effectiveness of the Silence is Deadly program in increasing positive help-seeking intentions for mental health problems and suicide among male secondary school students.
methodsThis study is a two-arm, cluster-randomised, controlled trial that will compare the Silence is Deadly program to a wait-list control condition. Eight Australian high schools will be recruited to the trial, with male students in grades 11 and 12 (16 to 18 years of age) targeted for participation. The program is an innovative male-tailored suicide prevention intervention, comprising a presentation that emphasises role-modelling and legitimises help-seeking for personal and emotional problems, and a brief video that features celebrity athletes who counter existing male norms around help-seeking and encourage communication about personal and emotional issues. The program also includes a discussion of how to help a friend in distress and ends with a question and answer session. The primary outcome measure for the current study is help-seeking intentions. Secondary outcomes include help-seeking behaviour, help-seeking attitudes, help-seeking stigma, mental health symptoms, and suicidal ideation. Data will be collected pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. Primary analyses will compare changes in help-seeking intentions for the intervention condition relative to the wait-list control condition using mixed-effects repeated-measures analyses that account for clustering within schools. DISCUSSION: If proven to be effective, this targeted help-seeking intervention for adolescent males, which is currently only delivered in one jurisdiction, could be more widely delivered in Australian high schools. The Silence is Deadly program has the potential to significantly contribute to the mental health of young men in Australia by improving help-seeking for suicidality and mental health problems, allowing this population to better access treatment and support sooner.
trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12617000658314 . Registered on 8 May 2017.
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Registered trials
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