Morgan, Talia C. (2019) The Difficulty of Choice: Suicidal Identity in an Online Pro-choice Suicide Forum. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
One in two Australians under the age of 25 have been impacted by suicide and it is currently the leading cause of death in those aged 15-44. Despite increased national funding, attention and current research efforts, little change has been made to suicide death rates in Australia. Rather than continuing to focus on risk and protective factors, research that focuses on how those experiencing suicidal behaviours present themselves as suicidal and in need of help is needed. The aim of the current study was to examine how suicidality was constructed in online ‘pro-choice’ suicide forums. A discursive psychology approach was adopted to explicate how suicidal identities were constructed and oriented to by respondents in the online interactions. Due to the recent internet censorship within Australia whereby internet sites that talk about death are not permitted to be established, this study used an international ‘pro-choice’ suicide forum as its data site. The data corpus contained 17 threads and 246 posts. The data was identified as displaying key discursive elements which contributed to the construction of suicidal identity within the forum. These were history of suicidality, the notion of choice, difficulty of action, and a state of readiness. Drawing on these elements, posters scripted themselves up as genuinely suicidal, which was oriented to, and mirrored within responses. Findings from this study may be used to inform theoretical perspectives of suicide and support services in the progression and movement between ideation and action in a population not previously examined.
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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: | 28 Sep 2025 23:21 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Sep 2025 23:21 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | suicide; forum; pro-choice; suicidal identity; discursive psychology |
| 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/52594 |
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