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Int J Prev Med
Int J Prev Med
IJPVM
Int J Prev Med
International Journal of Preventive Medicine
2008-7802
2008-8213
Wolters Kluwer - Medknow India

IJPVM-15-39
10.4103/ijpvm.ijpvm_360_23
Letter to Editor
Positive Mental Health Promotion to Address Suicide Rates: Hope Intervention on Suicide
Embalsado Justin Vianey Mercado 123
1 Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Angeles City, Philippines
2 Health Science Program, Graduate School, Angeles City, Philippines
3 Psychology Program, Graduate School, Angeles University Foundation, Angeles City, Philippines
Address for correspondence: Prof. Justin Vianey Mercado Embalsado, Department of Psychology, Angeles University Foundation, Angeles City 2009, Philippines. E-mail: embalsado.justinvianey@auf.edu.ph
2024
23 8 2024
15 3927 12 2023
23 2 2024
Copyright: © 2024 International Journal of Preventive Medicine
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
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pmcDear Editor,

A recent review article discussed the prevalence of suicide attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that suicide attempts are attributed to changes in daily routine due to the risk of infection. This highlights the psychological consequence of the community quarantines and changes in lifestyle.[1] The research argues that hopelessness results in suicide ideation and attempts, and hopeful thinking buffers the effect of hopelessness on suicidality.[12] Early identification of hopelessness and formation of hopeful thinking is essential to minimize suicidality.[2] Therefore, goal setting, agency formation, and constructing pathway thinking results in lower suicide rates.

Research on hope-building in people with failed suicide attempts focused on self-reminiscence to assign meaningful experiences and develop self-confidence.[3] It does not deal with goal setting and attainment in life. People who are low in hope tend to develop poor agency or the belief in themselves, pathway thinking, or the capacity to think of strategies to reach their goals and experience the absence of goals in life.[4] Hopelessness is the antithesis of hopeful thinking which characterizes the proactive approach to agency, pathway thinking, and goal setting. To alleviate adverse mental health and lessen the risk of suicide, it is essential to promote psychological resources or capacities like hopeful thinking.[5] This is in consideration that people who think and attempt suicide may experience hopelessness or the lack of a clear will and ways of life [Table 1]. Thus, hope intervention can provide the will and ways to live which can decrease possible suicide attempts and ideation.[4]

Table 1 Hope intervention to manage suicide

Activity	Objectives	Guide questions and pointers	
Identifying Goals	Aims to guide the identification of important positive goals in their life.	What are your goals? Why are these goals important to you?	
Agency Building	Develop positive belief in the participant’s capacity to achieve their goals.	Please re-evaluate the importance of the goals. Positive framing with “I am capable of (steps to reach the goal)”	
Pathway Building	Develop ways or strategies to reach goals by identifying realistic subgoals.	How do you intend to reach your goals? What are the realistic steps you can do to reach your goals?	

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the guidance and inspiration from the HopeLab at De La Salle University, Manila.
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1 Huen JMY Ip BYT Ho SMY Yip PSF Hope and Hopelessness: The role of hope in buffering the impact of hopelessness on suicidal ideation PLoS One 2015 10 e0130073 26107687
2 Wolfe KL Nakonezny PA Owen VJ Rial KV Moorehead AP Kennard BD Hopelessness as a predictor of suicide ideation in depressed male and female adolescent youth Suicide Life Threat Behav 2019 49 253 63 29267993
3 Hashemi-Aliabadi S Jalali A Rahmati M Salari N Group reminiscence for hope and resilience in care-seekers who have attempted suicide Ann Gen Psychiatry 2020 19 4 31969928
4 Snyder CR Hope theory: Rainbows in mind Psychol Inq 2002 13 249 75
5 Tardeh S Adibi A Mozafari AA Prevalence of suicide ideation and attempt during COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis Int J Prev Med 2023 14 9 36942038
