Gender in suicide prevention in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review

Suicidal behaviour in adolescents and young adults (AYA) continues to be a major global concern. The concept of gender has emerged as a pivotal element in public health and for research institutions. The objective was to assess the current use of a gendered approach in suicide prevention for AYA.

To that aim we conducted a systematic review of suicidal behaviour prevention programs and mobilised the gender transformative framework for health promotion developed by Pederson et al. [1].

The 133 included papers were distributed along a continuum with the majority of them being gender-blind (49%). A noteworthy proportion of the papers could be categorised as gender sensitive at varying degrees (41%). The gender specific studies (8%) had the most gender-related content, with three studies incorporating gender transformative elements (2%). The study reveals that the integration of gender remains limited, with a predominant focus on the differences between young women and men. The gender studies are not included in the theoretical basis of the interventions.

Therefore, we argue that integrating a gender perspective necessitates the incorporation of novel bodies of literature and theoretical discussion, as evidenced in critical suicide studies. Consequently, the content of the preventive programs and the professional positioning in light of gender and intersectional frameworks represent a subject of particular interest. The integration of a multifaceted gender definition within the evaluation design could prove advantageous. In the end, the gender transformative method provides some interesting elements to incorporate new frameworks for suicide in future prevention research.