McLean, Suzanne K. (2016) Doing Suicidal on the Internet: A Discursive Analysis of online Suicide Forums. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The aim of the current study was to explore how being suicidal is worked up on Australian, online suicide forums. A discursive psychology approach was utilised to explicate how suicide identities were discursively constructed and responded to on the following pro-life Internet suicide forums, Beyondblue, ReachOut, and SANE. Thirty-five threads formed the data corpus and were initially categorised into four genres per the writing style of the initial post. These were narrative, question/request, contemplation, and threat. This study found that the four genres were used in initial posts to convey an individual’s suicide identity. That is, people drew upon different discursive strategies to script themselves up as being either a suicidal ideator, actively suicidal, or at the edge of a suicide attempt. Responders, in turn, appeared able to differentiate based on the initial post, who was ‘suicidal’, who was moving ‘towards attempt’, and who was ‘closest to attempt’. Findings from this study may be used to improve our knowledge on how individuals progress from suicidal ideation to attempt, and may provide a beginning prospective view into issues that people who feel experience suicidal ideational are facing. How responders who are experiencing, or have experienced, suicidal thoughts and behaviours, relate to their peers may help health professional acquire better ways of identifying, supporting, and working with those who are suicidal.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Andrea Lamont-Mills |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Sep 2025 22:48 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Sep 2025 22:48 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | online suicide forums ; Australia ; discursive strategies ; suicidal thoughts ; suicidal behaviours |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52566 |
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