Suicide Awareness

This study aims to conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the feasibility of implementing the "Hand in Hand, We Rise" (Xie Shou Gong Jin) multi-stakeholder collaborative school-based suicide prevention program in rural public junior high schools. Six schools will be randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either the intervention group or the control group; the intervention group will simultaneously implement the "Youth Strengths \& Skills Curriculum (YSSC)" curriculum for students, "Life Gatekeeper" training for teachers, and mental health information dissemination for caregivers. The primary objectives are to evaluate recruitment, retention, adherence, implementation fidelity, acceptability, and safety within real-world school settings, and to preliminarily estimate changes in indicators such as suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, loneliness, help-seeking attitudes, mental health stigma, self-esteem, school climate, and bullying. The findings will provide parameters and an implementation basis for a subsequent large-scale, multi-school cluster randomized controlled trial.

Mental health difficulties among males are an issue of public health concern. Men are also at higher risk of suicidal ideation and self-harm and are poor at help-seeking due to factors including stigma, cultural norms and gendered expectations of masculinity. Yet, in Nigeria, a significant gap remains in media orientation intervention to create awareness on symptoms of mental health difficulties and support channels to encourage help-seeking. In essence, the current study aims to test the feasibility and acceptability of a novel intervention titled, psyChosOcial media awareNesS for SuiCIde symptoms, including other mental health PrOblems and help seeking mediUmS (CONSCIOUS) for addressing awareness of mental health difficulties in comparison to the waitlist control group for the purposes of improving men's help seeking, social support and reducing anxiety in Nigeria.