Suicide risk factors at intersections of health and welfare
This presentation will highlight insights from a novel data linkage study exploring suicide risk factors including mental health issues, domestic violence, and substance abuse and patterns of service use among people accessing Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) and specialist Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services (AODTS). Using a innovative data linkage approach, the analysis integrates data from the SHS collection, the AODTS collection, the MBS, and the PBS to better understand the relationship between homelessness, alcohol and other drug use, and suicide risk.
Suicide and Socioeconomic Disadvantage: a focus on income support recipients
This presentation shares our most recent findings from a project examining suicide among people who receive Centrelink support payments. Our broad aim is to better understand the characteristics and circumstances of recipients who die by suicide, so that we can identify groups who may benefit from additional or tailored supports.
Occupational and Industry-Specific Relative Risk of Suicide
This will cover a research project into occupational and industry-specific suicide risk being undertaken in collaboration with the ABS and researchers from the University of Melbourne. Occupation data for coroner-referred deaths will be coded by the ABS using OSCA and published from late 2025. AIHW is also partnering with researchers to develop an updated Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) using HILDA data, measuring psychosocial job stressors. The JEM has potential to be linked to other datasets and capacity to expand to include newly identified occupational hazards.
Monitoring suicide in real time
Suicide registers are now providing real-time information in most states and territories. However, tools to interpret monthly changes in suicides have yet to be developed. Our aim is to evaluate the usefulness of statistical control chart methodology for monitoring monthly suicides. The use of statistical control methodology could provide decision-makers with better information on when suicides are increasing, for whom, and what the possible causes of that increase might be. These charts are likely to be able to be applied to other suicidal outcomes such as ambulance attendances, emergency department presentations and hospital admissions for self-harm.