Project Title
Understanding Mood Patterns Among Adults With and Without a Recent Lived Experience of Suicide
Research Team Contact Details
Student Investigator
Analyse Russell
Email: analyserussell04@gmail.com
Mobile: +61 437 952 829
Principal Supervisor
Professor Andrea Lamont-Mills
Email: andrea.lamont-mills@usq.edu.au
Telephone: +61 7 3812 6159
Mobile: +61 409 639 148
Description
This project is being undertaken as part of a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) through the University of Southern Queensland. The purpose of this project is to explore how everyday mood patterns may differ between adults with a recent lived experience of suicide (i.e., within the past 6 months) and those without a recent experience. Research has found that people who had recently lived through a suicidal crisis had distinctive mood patterns that were related to overall suicide risk and risk of a future suicide attempt. This suggests that mood profiling may help identify periods when someone is more vulnerable and may benefit from additional support.
This study builds on that work by comparing mood profiles across two groups of adults. Your contribution will help us deepen our understanding of how mood changes and suicide risk interact - knowledge that can guide more effective, real‑world approaches to suicide prevention. The findings will be used in an Honours thesis and may also be shared through academic publications and presentations.
Participation
To take part, you need to be:
- 18 years or older
- Not currently under the care of a health professional for suicidal thoughts or behaviours
- Have a lived experience of suicide (i.e., have thought about taking your own life, made a plan to take your own life or are a survivor of a suicide attempt)
Your participation will involve completion of an online questionnaire that will take approximately 10-15 minutes of your time. Questions will include:
- Recent mood and emotional experiences (e.g., How do you feel right now Confused, Annoyed)
- Past or recent suicidal thoughts or feelings (e.g., In the past month, how often have you had thoughts about suicide?)
- Sense of connection, belonging, hope, and burdensomeness (e.g., These days, I feel like I belong)
Before participating, it may be helpful to reflect on whether participating in suicide‑prevention research feels right for you at this time. To support you in making an informed decision, Roses in the Ocean - Australia’s leading lived‑experience‑of‑suicide organization - has developed a Readiness Guide. This guide provides questions and considerations to help you reflect on your current wellbeing and readiness to engage in research activities. You can access the Readiness Guide here.
You can complete this survey anonymously or confidentially. Confidentially means you can provide your contact details if you would like us to get in touch with you should you score high on some of the questions. Please be assured that your survey responses will not identify you. Your responses and your contact details will be stored separately, and your data will be analysed without any personal information attached. If you choose to participate anonymously then we will not be able to contact you should you score high on some of the questions.
If you participate anonymously, you will be unable to withdraw data collected about yourself after you have participated in the questionnaire. If you participate confidentially, you may also request that any data collected about you be withdrawn and confidentially destroyed. If you participated confidentiality and you wish to withdraw data collected about yourself, please contact the Research Team (contact details at the top of this form).
Your participation in this project is entirely voluntary. If you do not wish to take part, you are not obliged to. If you decide to take part and later change your mind, you are free to withdraw from the project at any stage.
Your decision whether you take part, do not take part, or take part and then withdraw, will in no way impact your current or future relationship with the University of Southern Queensland or any organisation you are connected with.
Expected Benefits
It is expected that this project will not directly benefit you. However, it may benefit you as completing the survey may help you reflect on your current mental health needs. If you’d like support, contact details for relevant services will be provided at the end of the survey. Importantly, your participation will help researchers better understand how mood patterns relate to suicide risk. This knowledge may support the development of more responsive, compassionate approaches to suicide prevention in the future.
Risks
There are minimal risks in participating in this study such as, inconvenience, feelings of discomfort from answering some of the questions, and social risk. To minimise inconvenience, the survey takes about 10-15 minutes and can be completed at a time and location convenient to you. To minimise any potential discomfort, you can stop and take a break from answering the questions at any time and come back to where you left off as the online survey tool saves your answers. You can also skip any questions you do not want to answer. We have also provided a list of support services on this page and on the last page of the survey should you need to talk to someone about how you are feeling. We also encourage you to assess your readiness to participate in suicide research via the above link to the Roses in the Ocean research readiness guide.
If you need to talk to someone immediately, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636, SANE Australia on 1800 187 263, the Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 or Emergency Service on 000.
Further support is available through the following:
Beyond Blue online peer support forums https://forums.beyondblue.org.au/
Lifeline chat https://www.lifeline.org.au/chat
Lifeline text 047713 11 14
Suicide Call Back Service online counselling https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/phone-and-online-counselling/
SANE Australia online peer support forums https://saneforums.org
You may also wish to talk to your doctor, psychologist, counsellor, or EAP.
Privacy and Confidentiality
All comments and responses are confidential unless required by law. The names of individual persons are not required in any of the responses.
Data that you have provided may also be used in other research studies. These studies will be subject to ethics approval. All data will be stored and shared in a non-identifiable form.
If you would like a summary of the findings, you are welcome to request one from the Principal Supervisor Investigator via email (contact details at the top of this screen) or by including your contact details on the second to last screen of this survey.
Any data collected as a part of this project will be stored securely, as per University of Southern Queensland’s Research Data and Primary Materials Management Procedure.
Consent to Participate
Clicking on the ‘Submit’ button at the conclusion of the questionnaire is accepted as an indication of your consent to participate in this project.
Questions
Please refer to the Student Investigator, contact details at the top of the form to have any questions answered or to request further information about this project.
Concerns or complaints
If you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the project, you may contact the University of Southern Queensland, Manager of Research Integrity and Ethics on +61 7 4631 2321 or email researchintegrity@unisq.edu.au. The Manager of Research Integrity and Ethics is not connected with the research project and can address your concern in an unbiased manner.
Thank you for taking the time to help with this research project. Please keep this document for your information
