Charcoal-burning suicide in post-transition Hong Kong.
BACKGROUND
Charcoal-burning, a new suicide method, emerged in Hong Kong during the latest economic recession. Within 2 months charcoal-burning had become the third most common suicide method.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the characteristics of suicides by charcoal-burning, and to delineate the pathways linking macro-level economic and social changes with the subjective experiences of those surviving a charcoal-burning suicide attempt.


METHODS
Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. In the coroner's records study, the first 160 cases of suicide by charcoal-burning were compared with a control group. In the ethnographic enquiry, we interviewed 25 consecutive informants who had survived serious suicide attempt using charcoal-burning.


RESULTS
People who completed suicide by the charcoal-burning method were more likely to have been economically active and physically healthy, and were less likely to have had pre-existing mental illness. Charcoal-burning suicide was associated with overindebtedness. Media reports were pivotal in linking overindebtedness and financial troubles with charcoal-burning.


CONCLUSIONS
The political economy of suicide by charcoal-burning illustrated how historical, socio-economic and cultural forces shaped the lived experience that preceded suicide.
Chan
Kathy P M
KP
HKJC Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Yip
Paul S F
PS
Au
Jade
J
Lee
Dominic T S
DT
D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D002249:Carbon Monoxide Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002606:Charcoal; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D011057:Politics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000208:ethnology
D002606:Charcoal