Examining suicide education materials to positively impact stigma and helping behavior, moderated by dispositional empathy

Fitzgerald, Mikaela Rose (2021) Examining suicide education materials to positively impact stigma and helping behavior, moderated by dispositional empathy. Masters thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

Suicide is a major leading cause of death in the world. There are many forms of preventions, interventions, and educations for suicide available and in use, but there is not one type that maximally benefits all groups of people. Empathetic concern and helping behavior, as suggested by previous research, are important factors of suicide education. Stigmatization of suicide deters individuals from seeking various available forms of help. The purpose of this research was to examine a new prevention education material (personal story) and traditional education material to determine which is more beneficial in decreasing stigma and increasing literacy of suicide and helping behavior. The study’s results suggest that measured empathetic concern (IRI) and perspective taking IRI) do not moderate the relationship between the type of education material and stigma. Additionally, results indicated higher measured helping behavior in those in the traditional education group as compared to the new education material. Explanations of the results and direction for future studies are presented.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	Dispositional empathy; Empathetic concern; Helping behavior; Literacy of suicide; Stigmatization; Suicide education
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of Social and Behavioral Science > Psychological Sciences
Date Deposited:	25 Feb 2022 16:50
Last Modified:	25 Feb 2022 16:50
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/5759

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