7 December 2015

Research opportunity for MSc-level student on the topic of suicide and alcohol use in Sri Lanka

News from Copenhagen School of Global Health.

Suicide is a profound public health issue in Sri Lanka, which have been researched by the University of Copenhagen in partnership with a number of international collaborators for decades. Currently, research is being undertaken on a range of issues pertaining to the prevention and treatment of it. This includes research on alcohol consumption’s role in self-harm and suicide – a well-known combination; however a deeper understanding of it is still lacking in the Sri Lankan context.

We are looking for an MSc-level student with an interest in the topics of mental health, suicide, self-harm, or alcohol consumption from a non-medical approach and a strong interest in carrying out a systematic, narrative review. The data collected could form part of a master thesis and would preferably be utilized in a peer-reviewed publication.

Objective
To carry out a narrative review of relevant literature on the topic of suicide in Sri Lanka, exploring discourses on how alcohol is explained to be a part of the incidences.

Methodology

  1. Conduct a literature search on similar research and develop a study protocol.
  2. Carry out a systematic search and retrieval of studies on suicide in Sri Lanka. A data base of peer-reviewed and gray literature published from 1970 to June 2008 is already available. Part of the assignment would be to make this search and retrieval up-to-date.
  3. Screening for eligibility using systematic review forms.
  4. Classify included articles on a range of categories (author, date, source, study type, themes).
  5. Quality assessment of the identified papers.
  6. A systematic text search of papers where alcohol consumption is mentioned.
  7. Finally, a narrative analysis of how alcohol is portrayed in the studies will be carried out.

Time frame
The study would be initiated as soon as possible, possibly starting by the beginning of 2016.

Supervision
Jane Brandt Sørensen, PhD Fellow at the Global Health Section, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, recently finalized data collection on her study on alcohol’s role in self-harm in Sri Lanka and will function as supervisor. Please note that if the research will be part of a thesis, the student must find a relevant supervisor to support that.

Outputs
The student is expected to produce (i) a search string; (ii) set of data; and (iii) a draft paper as an output of the research.

To apply
Interested candidates should submit a ½-1 page motivational letter and CV to janebs@sund.ku.dk with an indication of when the research is expected to be initiated.

Application deadline: 15 December 2015.

For further information or questions, please contact Jane Brandt Sørensen (janebs@sund.ku.dk).