RCT to Determine Whether Pesticide Vendor Training Reduces Pesticide Self-poisoning in Rural Asia

When someone is in a suicidal crisis, limiting their access to lethal means is an incredibly effective method that could prevent a death by suicide. Different types of lethal means require different types of strategies and culturally relevant decisions to implement approaches to safety when people are in crisis. These decisions can vary country by country, and culture by culture. Ultimately, when developing strategies for limiting access to lethal means, it is about identifying indicators of risk (e.g., socio-demographic factors or psychosocial factors), and educating related parties on what to look out for.

With this in mind, Dr. Michael Eddleston and his team in Sri Lanka embarked on figuring out what factors about an individual were associated with them purchasing lethal means with the intention of attempting suicide. Dr. Eddleston did this by comparing data from a group who purchased the lethal means and went on to attempt or die by suicide with data from a group who made the same purchase but did not use them for self-harm. After analyzing data and interviews with related parties, Dr. Eddleston found that alcohol intoxication and being a non-farmer with no need for pesticides were the main distinguishing factors indicating potential risk for suicide. The study methods and results will help educate related parties in Sri Lanka and also help serve as a model for determining factors associated with other types of lethal means

Citation: Weerasinghe, M., Konradsen, F., Eddleston, M., Pearson, M., Jayamanne, S., Knipe, D., Hawton, K., Gunnell, D., & Agampodi, S. (2020). Factors associated with purchasing pesticide from shops for intentional self-poisoning in Sri Lanka. Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH, 25(10), 1198–1204. https://doi.org/10.1111/tmi.13469