Medical experts are launching an app they hope will lower Australia's shockingly high Indigenous suicide rate, which remains up to six times that of the non-Indigenous population.
Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are far more likely to kill themselves than people of other ages and backgrounds, according to a 10-year Bureau of Statistics study published in 2012.
The study concluded that Indigenous females aged 15-19 were 5.9 times more likely to die by suicide than were non-Indigenous females of the same age.
Teenage Indigenous males were about 4.4 times more likely to take their own lives than were non-Indigenous males of the same age.
Overall, suicides accounted for 4.2% of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in 2010, compared with 1.6% of all Australians.
The Black Dog Institute is trialling a new app – said to be the first in the world to use evidence-based suicide prevention methods – to try to save lives.
The institute specialises in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mood disorders such as depression and bipolar.
"We know that Indigenous Australians are not seeking face-to-face mental healthcare," said a Black Dog Institute researcher, Professor Helen Christensen.
"More than 70% of Indigenous suicides occur in people who are not previously known to health services.
"Indigenous youth have a high rate of mobile phone usage, so it makes sense that we engage them on technology they are comfortable with and able to use in their own private time."
The mobile phone and tablet app, called ibobbly – a name derived from an Indigenous Kimberley greeting – will start clinical trials in Western Australia on Saturday.
The app does not require an internet connection once downloaded – an advantage in remote regions.
"Based on psychological therapies proven to reduce suicidal thoughts, it draws heavily on Indigenous metaphors, images and stories drawn from local Aboriginal artists and performers," the organisation said.
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