MatesMonitor: Evaluating suicide prevention in the construction industry

Summary

This project examines the extent to which a suicide prevention health service, provided by partner organisation Mates in Construction, produces long term benefit in terms of outcomes such as suicide ideation, self-harm, suicide attempts, and psychological distress. In particular, the project involves conducting a randomised controlled trial to determine whether the gains associated with the face-to-face Mates in Construction training program are increased with a smartphone program called MatesMonitor, which reinforces training messages and impacts over an extended time period after completion of face-to-face training.

The research is on-going but preliminary findings reveal that universal General Awareness Training (GAT) produced significant and positive shifts in beliefs about suicide and mental health from before, to immediately after training.

Also, pre-and post-training survey results show that workplace interventions may be particularly beneficial for suicide prevention in young construction workers.

Team

• Allison Milner (The University of Melbourne)
• Anthony LaMontagne (Deakin University)
• Brian Kelly (University of Newcastle)
• Philip Batterham (Australian National University)
• Helen Lingard
• Samuel Harvey (University of New South Wales)
• Tania King (University of Melbourne)

Partners

• NHMRC partnership Project, Mates in Construction

Peer-reviewed papers/outputs

• KING, T., BATTERHAM, P., LINGARD, H., GULLESTRUP, J., LOCKWOOD, C., HARVEY, S., KELLY, B., LAMONTAGNE, A. & MILNER, A., (2019), Are young men getting the message? Age differences in suicide prevention literacy among male construction workers, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(3), 475
• KING, T., GULLESTRAP, J., BATTERHAM, P., KELLY, B., LOCKWOOD, C., LINGARD, H., HARVEY, S., LAMONTAGNE, A. & MILNER, A. (2018), Shifting beliefs about suicide: pre-post evaluation of the effectiveness of a program for workers in the construction industry, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15 (10). pp. 1-13
• KING, T., FLEITAS ALFONZO, L., BATTERHAM, P. MACKINNON, A., LOCKWOOD, C., HARVEY, S., KELLY, B., LINGARD, H., COX, L. & LAMONTAGNE, A. (2023), Effectiveness of a blended face-to-face and smartphone intervention for suicide prevention in the construction industry: a randomised controlled trial, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.