Suicide prevention interventions and supports for the Autistic community: a scoping review protocol

Suicide is a leading cause of death among Autistic adults globally. Autistic people are up to six times more likely to die by suicide than people in the general population. Research highlights a lack of appropriate support for Autistic individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

A scoping review will be conducted to map available literature on Suicide Prevention Interventions and Supports used with the Autistic community. This scoping review will use the methodological guidelines set out by the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis. The searches will be conducted in January 2025. The following electronic databases will be searched; PubMed, CINAHL Ultimate, PsycINFO and EMBASE, as well as the reference lists of included articles and grey literature (including conference abstracts, PhD theses, grey literature databases and preprints). The search strategy will be used to identify literature with an aim of preventing suicide in Autistic individuals. Only literature published in English will be included. Two reviewers will independently screen all literature based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data extraction will be piloted by two reviewers and continued by one reviewer. The extracted data will be checked for accuracy by a second reviewer. Any disagreements that arise between the reviewers will be resolved through discussion or with a third reviewer. A narrative summary of findings will be conducted. Results will be reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Review statement.

Ethics approval is not required for this study as it is protocol for a review of published literature and does not involve human participants or private data. Findings will be disseminated through professional networks, conference presentations and publication in a scientific journal.

This protocol has been registered on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/bpxnf/overview).