Title: Understanding the association of low socioeconomic position with increased suicidal behaviour in Sri Lanka
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Suicide is a major cause of mortality worldwide with nearly 40% of deaths occurring in low & middle income countries (LMIC) in South East Asia, despite only making up 26% of the world's population. Social factors such as poverty & education play an important role in suicide & my PhD found that measures of low socioeconomic position (SEP), such as low levels of education, fewer material assets & insecure occupations, increased the risk of suicide & attempted suicide in Sri Lanka. The policy implications of these findings are unclear. The proposed fellowship work has 5 main areas: i)Disseminating findings to academic & non-academic audiences During the fellowship I aim to further strengthen my publication track record by writing up the two remaining results chapters. The first of these chapters relates to an analysis which investigated whether contextual (i.e. household & community environment) factors were important in determining an individual's' risk of attempted suicide using multilevel modelling techniques. The second chapter analysed a cohort dataset which recorded the SEP status of individuals at the start of the study & then followed them up over a 3-5 year period to record incidences of suicide & attempted suicide. I will also communicate my research findings through social media (e.g. Twitter), by giving press interviews & writing an opinion piece for a national newspaper (i.e. Colombo Telegraph). In order to prepare for this I plan to attend the ESRC media training course & Science Communication Masterclass in Bristol. I also intend to present my findings at the International Association of Suicide Prevention, Social Science & Medicine, the World's Women Studies Conference & at an additional local conference. I will use these conferences to establish links with other researchers in related fields. ii)Building networks to develop impact opportunities & future research collaborations The fellowship will include two visits to Sri Lanka. The initial visit (2 weeks) will include visiting key academics in 3 of the main universities in Sri Lanka (Colombo, Peradeniya & Rajarata) to discuss the findings of my PhD. I plan to use this visit to introduce (via existing networks) myself to key governmental (e.g. District Secretaries, Ministry of Women & Child Affairs) & nongovernmental (e.g. Suicide prevention charity, mental health NGOs) representatives. In addition, during this visit I will also run a short course in statistics at the University of Peradeniya which will help strengthen my existing relationship with the University. iii)Understand the policy implications of PhD findings The second visit (2 weeks) will involve conducting a workshop with representatives from the study area, governmental/non-governmental representatives, journalists & international/national academics. The purpose of this workshop will be to disseminate PhD findings & discuss potential policy implications. I aim to utilise this workshop to get help identifying key local priorities for research linked to my PhD work & develop new collaborations/support for future research proposals. iv)Understand the association between family/household structure & suicidal behaviour My PhD dataset did not include information about the relationships of household members & therefore I was unable to identify whether certain household positions were at elevated risk of suicidal behaviour. For example the impact of low levels of education may be more pronounced in fathers than grandmothers. My PhD funded the collection of household relationships for ~14,000 households. These data will be available by the end of 2016 & I wish to use the fellowship to analyse & publish this information. v)Improving the fellow's research capacity The fellowship program will also develop my skills in communicating my findings to non-academic audiences & dealing with the media. I also plan to gain specialised training in qualitative research methods & social network analysis


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH