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Suicide Research

Methodology

We wanted to gather accurate information on the proportion of young gay and bisexual men in Edinburgh who had experienced suicidal thoughts, feelings or behaviours.

Because of the potential sensitivity of this subject and the need to contact a significant number of respondents, we decided that anonymous self-completion questionnaires would be the best way of gathering a reasonable amount of information. Staff from Gay Men’s Health and LGBT Youth Scotland met over several weeks to design the questionnaire and to develop appropriate research questions.

We believed that self-completion questionnaires would avoid any potential embarrassment respondents could feel disclosing their answers to another person, and the form was completely anonymous to ensure that responses could not be traced back to individual respondents.

We conducted a small pilot of the questionnaire with young people at LGBT Youth Scotland, and made adaptations based on the feedback we received and problems we encountered interpreting the pilot data. Data from the pilot was excluded from the final published data.

All the volunteer researchers were given specific training to prepare them for the practicalities of the research and to provide information on what to do should someone be suicidal or distressed. Volunteers were advised to avoid approaching anyone who was drunk, as it would be unethical for this person to participate both because of the issue of informed consent and because alcohol can increase the risk of spontaneous suicide attempts. Volunteers were accompanied by staff during the research, and at the same time a trained counsellor was available in the Gay Men’s Health office to provide initial support to volunteers or respondents who were having difficulty.

Volunteers distributed and collected questionnaires in a number of gay venues in Edinburgh during Mental Health week. On Tuesday 8th October 2002 the volunteers gathered responses from people attending Vibe, a club popular with young gay and bisexual men. The majority of the useable responses came from this visit. On Friday 11th October 2002 the volunteers went round a number of venues (Habana, Planet Out and CC Blooms). A small number of questionnaires were also collected from young people attending groups at LGBT Youth Scotland.

Questionnaires were handed out along with an A4 envelope, and respondents were asked to seal their completed questionnaire in the envelope and return the sealed envelope to the volunteer researcher. All envelopes would be opened together to ensure complete anonymity for respondents.

A tear-off covering sheet accompanying the questionnaire explained the purpose of the research and provided information on sources of support, 24-hour helplines and information if people felt suicidal. This was because we were concerned that some people may be upset or in need of support at the point of completing the questionnaire and we wanted to provide information on help available. The covering sheet also explained that respondents could speak to the volunteer handing out the questionnaire if they were upset or if they wanted more information or support. 42 respondents (37.5%) took and kept the covering front-sheet.

In addition to the covering sheet, respondents could complete and return a separate form asking for information on the research findings if they wanted this. This form, which contained respondents names, addresses and email contacts was not sealed in the envelope with the questionnaire, but was handed back to the volunteer researchers, who would gather them all together so there was no way to trace responses back to individual respondents. 55 respondents (49%) asked for information on the findings to be sent to them. We had a very high response rate for the research, with only 10 people refusing to participate (92% response).

Envelopes were opened together, and findings were analysed.

112 responses were gathered in total, of which 95 were usable and 17 void. Questionnaires were unusable for the following reasons: 1 respondent had not indicated their age, 6 respondents were over 26 years of age, 7 respondents were primarily or exclusively heterosexual, 1 respondent had not indicated their sexual orientation and 2 respondents were female.

Last updated 14th July 2004

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