ArticleBMC public health2020
Trends of online news media reported suicides in Ghana (1997-2019).
Article in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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9 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sexual Orientation and Suicide Risk: Examining the Contributions of Hopelessness, Life Satisfaction, and Spirituality.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Current pesticide suicide surveillance methods used across the African continent: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Prevalence of suicide ideation and its associated risk factors among undergraduate students of the university for development studies, Tamale.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Article
- Sex-related inequalities in crude and age-standardized suicide rates: trends in Ghana from 2000 to 2019.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Paradoxes of interdependence and dependence": A qualitative study of economic difficulties and relational encounters prior to men's suicide in Ghana.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2023Article
- Online media reporting of suicidal behaviour in Ghana: Analysis of adherence to the WHO guidelines.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2021Article
- Media Reports about Violence against Medical Care Providers in China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Trends and patterns of suicidal behaviour in Nigeria: Mixed-methods analysis of media reports from 2016 to 2019.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2021Article
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1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundSuicides have become headline news in most developing countries and often feature on front pages with accompanying graphic pictures on prominent news portals. There has been an increased reportage of suicides by the Ghanaian news media. This study aims to shed light on the trend of online news media reporting of suicides, and the epidemiology of media reported suicides in Ghana.
methodsAn online search was conducted for news media reports of suicides committed in Ghana. One hundred and forty-two (142) news media reported suicides spanning 1997 to 31st July 2019 were retrieved and included in the analyses.
resultsThe victims of suicides were predominantly male (85.92%), young (mean age = 34.81 ± 15.71 years; range 10-86 years). Suicide by hanging (67.94%), the use of firearms (18.32%), and self-poisoning (8.93%) were the common methods used by the victims. There has been increased online news media reportage of suicides in Ghana in the last 3 years; 2017 witnessed the highest reportage of 30 (21%) cases. Marital or relationships and family problems were commonly cited as the reasons for the commission of suicides; mental disorders, and financial problems were also cited as immediate triggers of the suicides by close relations of the victims.
conclusionThere is an increased media reportage of suicides in Ghana, although this cannot be linked to a corresponding increase in suicide incidence. Interventions to decrease the risk of suicide among vulnerable populations (young adults) such as the identification of suicidal behavior, making mental healthcare services more accessible by integrating into the general healthcare service, public education, establishing a suicide hotline will be critical programs to help reduce suicide incidence in Ghana.
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