A Call for Preventing Suicide by Hanging from Ceiling Fans: An Interdisciplinary Research Agenda

Abstract

Hanging is a common method of suicide in several countries. Even as global suicide rates decrease, there is no evidence of suicides by hanging declining. There is limited research by type of hanging, and only a few papers present suicide by hanging from ceiling fans. Our paper proposes a research agenda that will: specify the size of the problem of hanging by ceiling fan (Stage 1: Surveillance), use standard engineering product development processes to modify ceiling fans for reducing their lethal capacity (Stage 2: Design Testing and Redevelopment), and examine the resulting beta- and release-build fans for safety and potential to reduce suicide in community samples (Stage 3: Evaluation).