Integrating a Suicide Prevention Program into the Primary Health Care Network: A Field Trial Study in Iran

Abstract

Objective. To describe and evaluate the feasibility of integrating a suicide prevention program with Primary Health Care services and evaluate if such system can improve screening and identification of depressive disorder, reduce number of suicide attempters, and lower rate of suicide completion.Methodology. This was a quasi-experimental trial in which one community was exposed to the intervention versus the control community with no such exposure. The study sites were two counties in Western Iran. The intervention protocol called for primary care and suicide prevention collaboration at different levels of care. The outcome variables were the number of suicides committed, the number of documented suicide attempts, and the number of identified depressed cases.Results. We identified a higher prevalence of depressive disorders in the intervention site versus the control site (χ2=14.8,P<0.001). We also found a reduction in the rate of suicide completion in the intervention region compared to the control, but a higher prevalence of suicide attempts in both the intervention and the control sites.Conclusion. Integrating a suicide prevention program with the Primary Health Care network enhanced depression and suicide surveillance capacity and subsequently reduced the number of suicides, especially in rural areas.