SUICIDE in RURAL & REMOTE AREAS of AUSTRALIA - Living is for ...

Executive Summary
The size of the problem and scope
of the report
Australia’s rural localities face an increasing burden
of death due to suicide (Hirsch, 2006). Those groups
most vulnerable to suicide appear to be males,
youth, farmers and Indigenous people. Data from the
Queensland Suicide Register showed that, between
2005 and 2007, male suicide rates in remote areas
(36.32 per 100,000) were signifi cantly higher than
male suicide rates in non-remote areas (18.25 per
100,000). Further research has also shown that the
relative rate of male suicide in rural Queensland was
1.99 compared to rates in metropolitan locations
(Kõlves et al, 2009). While the gap is widest
between metropolitan and remote suicide rates
and the rates highest among rural males, regional
suicide rates are still higher and metropolitan rates
and the rural female suicide rate is higher than the
urban female suicide rate.
The present report aimed to present a holistic
examination of suicide in regional and remote
Australia. It predominantly focused on the
Queensland experience and has investigated a wide
range of psychological, environmental and cultural
factors, within this bound geographical context.
Key findings
Chapter One gives a detailed presentation of past
research on at-risk groups, suicide methods, and
risk and protective factors. Identifi ed gaps include
the lack of research on the risk of suicide within
specifi c sub-groups, such as females and same-sex
attracted youth. This review indicates the importance
of: understanding rural cultural infl uences, providing
appropriate treatment services, and encouraging
help-seeking in rural contexts.
Chapter Two contains the results of an analysis on
the contextual infl uences on suicide in metropolitan,
regional and remote areas. These fi ndings indicate
that contextual stressors associated with the
agricultural industry, relationship breakdown and
Indigenous population were associated with greater
risk of suicide in remote populations. Greater
education, religiosity, and antidepressant use
in rural populations were associated with lower
suicide rates. The chapter highlights the importance
of considering suicide as embedded within a larger
framework of environmental risk and protective
factors.
Some of the fi ndings from the second Chapter
receive further support in the psychological autopsy
study reported in Chapter Three. Compared to
suicides in urban localities, relationship confl ict,
income and work problems, and alcohol use
disorder were signifi cant in cases of rural suicides.
The quality of available health services and possible
stigma associated with help-seeking are also
highlighted as infl uences on rural suicide.
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