| 1 |
What is the association between COVID-19 and rates
of suicide and related outcomes across regions and cultures both in the
short and long term? |
| 2 |
What is the trajectory of any observed changes
(e.g., an initial decrease in suicide outcomes due to a "pulling together"
phenomenon followed by a steady increase vs. an initial increase that
slowly dissipates)? |
| 3 |
Are there particular populations (e.g., older
adults, frontline healthcare workers, high population density/urban
dwellers, men) who are at elevated risk of suicide outcomes during pandemics
compared with baseline rates? And, if so, are they amenable to targeted
interventions? |
| 4 |
Are those directly exposed to the virus or their
families/caregivers at elevated risk of suicide outcomes, whether
immediately or over the longer term? |
| 5 |
What is the population-attributable risk of suicide
outcomes that arises from factors unique to pandemics (e.g., social
distancing; mass exposure to a virus with neuropsychiatric health sequelae)
versus more general, ongoing risk factors (psychiatric illness, medical
illness, access to means)? |
| 6 |
Which suicide-specific (e.g., media campaigns, means
restriction) and nonspecific (social safety net, efforts to reduce social
isolation) population-level interventions have the greatest impact on
suicide outcomes? |
| 7 |
Which surveillance strategies are most effective in
detecting and intervening to prevent suicide during the pandemic? |
| 8 |
Can remote or virtual suicide risk assessments be
conducted in a sensitive, safe, and effective fashion? |
| 9 |
If rates of suicide outcomes change, what are the
mechanisms or processes (neurobiological, psychological, social) that drive
those changes? |
