Suicide exposure and impact within a non-representative Australian community sample

Abstract

The impact of exposure to suicide death or attempt remains ill-understood. This article aims to investigate this impact among 3010 community residing Australian adults. An online survey investigated the burden of exposure to suicide, psychological distress, and predictors of distress. The following variables were most significant in predicting distress among those exposed to suicide death: perceived impact of the most impactful death, non-kin relationship to the deceased, number of close suicide attempt exposures, time since the most impactful death, and frequency of contact. Results demonstrate suicide is a highly impactful experience and this impact reaches well beyond kin.