A Suicide Haddon Matrix for Intervention and Prevention to Reduce Suicide Risk

Identifying the individual, environmental, and social characteristics of suicide events is central to developing a comprehensive public health strategy for intervention and prevention of suicide. The Haddon Matrix has previously been used as a tool to address this goal in various forms of injury prevention. The purpose of this paper is to apply the Haddon Matrix to suicide to inform research, prevention, and intervention.

To examine the Haddon Matrix's utility for suicide, a selective literature review was performed of recent and influential papers on risk of suicide across time, identifying contributing factors, conditions, policies, theories, and prevention strategies. Second, the key factors identified were organized on the Haddon Matrix. Third, to examine the pragmatic utility of the Haddon Matrix, the Department of Defense (DoD) Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee's (SPRIRC) recommendations to prevent military suicides were placed on the Haddon Matrix, and the areas covered were examined.

Characteristics of suicide across pre-event, event, and post-event stages were identified at the individual (host), agent (factors related to the method used for suicide), environmental, and social domains. These were used to construct a Suicide Haddon Matrix. Placing the DoD SPRIRC recommendations on the Haddon Matrix showed a concentration of high priority recommendations in the pre-event, host, and agent domains.

A Suicide Haddon Matrix can guide researchers, mental health practitioners, and public health officials to key host, agent, physical, and social environment factors. This can identify areas that need research and opportunities for intervention and prevention.