Ryatt, James (2023) “I can totally relate”: The Role of Second Stories in an Online Pro-Life Suicide Forum. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Within suicide research, there is a distinct lack of work on the firsthand accounts of suicide attempters, ideators and those affected by suicide (Askew, 2020). A source rich in these experiences but also overlooked are online community-moderated forums. While there is apprehension surrounding online forums, community-moderated forums afford users a different type of expression. Users perceive these spaces as uncensored and freer (Marsh et al., 2022), where unscripted conversations, including storytelling, can occur. In this understudied space, it is important to explore the construction of stories, their protective qualities, and how they can inform theory and practice. Conversation analysis was applied in a single case study design comprising selected extracts from a larger thread. Data was sourced from the Reddit forum r/SuicideWatch, which has grown from ~40,000 to over 400,000 users since 2016 (Kavuluru et al., 2016; Reddit, 2023a). The thread "Is it worthing to live cause of a cat?" was selected due to many replies (n=149) and a highly responsive original poster. The findings show that users who had experienced or been affected by suicidality shared stories in response to the original poster's story. In a space with unrestricted conversation, these stories highlighted different aspects of storytelling, including emphasising story form, characters, and audience interaction. This study aids the understanding of how storytelling confers protective qualities onto suicidal users, particularly in the context of the fluid vulnerability theory of suicide (Rudd, 2006). It also demonstrates how those with a lived experience of suicide can be brought to the forefront of suicide research.
|
Statistics for this ePrint Item |
| 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: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Wellbeing (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Steven Christensen |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Aug 2025 00:34 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Aug 2025 00:34 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Suicidality, stories, conversation analysis, fluid vulnerability theory. |
| 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/52724 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Archive Repository Staff Only |
