Suicide and self-harm content on Instagram: A systematic scoping review.

Given concerns about suicide or self-harm content on Instagram, we conducted a systematic scoping review of peer-reviewed English language primary studies published between 2010-2019. Only ten studies had been published. Looking into purposive samples of Instagram posts tagged with self-harm related...

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Main Authors: Jacobo Picardo, Sarah K McKenzie, Sunny Collings, Gabrielle Jenkin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238603&type=printable
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author Jacobo Picardo
Sarah K McKenzie
Sunny Collings
Gabrielle Jenkin
author_facet Jacobo Picardo
Sarah K McKenzie
Sunny Collings
Gabrielle Jenkin
author_sort Jacobo Picardo
collection DOAJ
description Given concerns about suicide or self-harm content on Instagram, we conducted a systematic scoping review of peer-reviewed English language primary studies published between 2010-2019. Only ten studies had been published. Looking into purposive samples of Instagram posts tagged with self-harm related hashtags, studies report finding self-harm or suicide content in between 9-66% of their studied posts. Studies assessing Instagram's efforts to tackle such content found they had not been very effective. Despite heterogeneity in study aims, use of terminology, samples, methods of analysis, and study outcomes, we aggregated and distinguished 'content studies' and 'user studies'. Most studies showed concern for self-harm risk, but only one examined the relationship between self-harm posts and actual self-harm behaviours offline. It found such content had negative emotional effects on some users and reported preliminary evidence of potential harmful effects in relation to self-harm related behaviours offline, although causal effects cannot be claimed. At the same time, some benefits for those who engage with self-harm content online have been suggested. More research directly interviewing Instagram users to understand this phenomenon from their perspective is required. Finally, some ethical issues are discussed.
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spelling doaj-art-3f5a1d07fbbd440d8c176ae6044fcc8d2025-02-05T05:33:01ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01159e023860310.1371/journal.pone.0238603Suicide and self-harm content on Instagram: A systematic scoping review.Jacobo PicardoSarah K McKenzieSunny CollingsGabrielle JenkinGiven concerns about suicide or self-harm content on Instagram, we conducted a systematic scoping review of peer-reviewed English language primary studies published between 2010-2019. Only ten studies had been published. Looking into purposive samples of Instagram posts tagged with self-harm related hashtags, studies report finding self-harm or suicide content in between 9-66% of their studied posts. Studies assessing Instagram's efforts to tackle such content found they had not been very effective. Despite heterogeneity in study aims, use of terminology, samples, methods of analysis, and study outcomes, we aggregated and distinguished 'content studies' and 'user studies'. Most studies showed concern for self-harm risk, but only one examined the relationship between self-harm posts and actual self-harm behaviours offline. It found such content had negative emotional effects on some users and reported preliminary evidence of potential harmful effects in relation to self-harm related behaviours offline, although causal effects cannot be claimed. At the same time, some benefits for those who engage with self-harm content online have been suggested. More research directly interviewing Instagram users to understand this phenomenon from their perspective is required. Finally, some ethical issues are discussed.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238603&type=printable
spellingShingle Jacobo Picardo
Sarah K McKenzie
Sunny Collings
Gabrielle Jenkin
Suicide and self-harm content on Instagram: A systematic scoping review.
PLoS ONE
title Suicide and self-harm content on Instagram: A systematic scoping review.
title_full Suicide and self-harm content on Instagram: A systematic scoping review.
title_fullStr Suicide and self-harm content on Instagram: A systematic scoping review.
title_full_unstemmed Suicide and self-harm content on Instagram: A systematic scoping review.
title_short Suicide and self-harm content on Instagram: A systematic scoping review.
title_sort suicide and self harm content on instagram a systematic scoping review
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238603&type=printable
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