Communicating charcoal burning suicide on Chinese Social Media

Abstract

Background: In view of the rapid spreading of charcoal burning suicide method from Hong Kong to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and other Eastern Asian countries, the geographic and cultural closeness between Mainland and Hong Kong, and increasing of Internet penetration in Mainland China, it is reasonable for us to be concerned with the potential increasing of suicide using this method in the most populated country in the world. Q&A websites generate both questions and answers from anonymous users so we can observe the interactions between both sides of individuals, which cannot be achieved by examining search engine results. Baidu Zhidao, affiliated with Baidu, the dominating search engine in China, is the biggest Q&A website in the Chinese language. Objectives: The present study collected data from this website and its research objectives include: 1) examine how much information relevant with charcoal burning suicide can be extracted from Baidu Zhidao using search terms such as “burning charcoal” and “burning carbon”; 2) assess Baidu Zhidao users’ knowledge and perceptions of charcoal burning suicide; and 3) analyze the communication process between question providers and answer providers, using qualitative research approach. Methods: Our data was retrospectively collected from Baidu Zhidao and ethical approval was obtained from XXX. Two search queries relating to charcoal burning suicide, namely, “burning charcoal” and “burning carbon” were entered into Baidu Zhidao search box in Sept, 2014. All the questions displayed as search results, as well as all the answers to these questions, were downloaded automatically by a designed computer programme. In Baidu Zhidao, users who asked questions (askers hereafter) are able to mark one of the answers as the best answer, which would be displayed at the top of all the answers. In total, 1,321 questions and 3,574 answers were downloaded and analyzed. 100 questions were randomly selected from all the questions for developing coding book and coder training. The inter-rater reliability between two trained coders was examined by Cohen’s Kappa to be 0.985, which indicate an excellent level of agreement. Then the two coders coded the rest questions and all the answers. The coding results were first descriptively summarized. Correlation between a question’s characteristics and its best answer’s characteristics were examined. Questions that were specifically asking about charcoal burning suicide and their answers were included for in-depth discourse and conversation analyses. The grounded theory method was utilized to examine the communication process between question askers and answer providers. Results: The results are expected to demonstrate the extent to which the charcoal burning suicide has been communicated by Baidu Zhidao users, and how the communication was carried out at both interpersonal and massive levels. The findings can be applied to develop intervention strategies to restrict online users’ access to pro-suicide information but engage them into suicide preventive conversations.