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Choose Life

Also: Choose Life: national strategy and action plan to prevent suicide in Scotland

Scotland's ten-year national suicide prevention strategy launched on 2 December 2002 by the Scottish Executive, aiming to cut suicides 20% by 2013 through local Choose Life coordinators and plans, branded awareness activity and gatekeeper training (ASIST, STORM). Succeeded by Every Life Matters (2018).

Years
2002–2013
Country
United Kingdom
Topic
Suicide prevention
Asks people to
RecognizeSeek helpTalk to someone
Strategy
Policy pairedSelf efficacy
Channel
EventsOutdoorPrint
Audience
General public

Evidence

ProcessUnknown

National evaluation of phase 1 documented implementation and the difficulty of attributing population outcomes to a policy-driven programme (Mackenzie et al. 2007); qualitative evaluation of STORM cascade training found successful delivery where facilitators were supported but little institutional appraisal (Gask et al. 2019). Scotland's suicide rate fell over the period, not attributed. Safe messaging: not scored.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • Scottish Executive / Scottish Government; NHS Health Scotland Foreign government, funder and lead

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Mackenzie M et al. Measuring the tail of the dog that doesn't bark in the night: the case of the national evaluation of Choose Life. BMC Public Health 2007;7:146 evaluation · 2007 · DOI 10.1186/1471-2458-7-146 · PMID 17617891
  2. Gask L et al. An evaluation of the implementation of cascade training for suicide prevention during the 'Choose Life' initiative in Scotland. BMC Health Serv Res 2019;19:588 evaluation · 2019 · DOI 10.1186/s12913-019-4398-1 · PMID 31429739
  3. Choose Life: national strategy and action plan to prevent suicide in Scotland (IRISS) reference
  4. Scottish Government Social Research evaluation of Choose Life (2010) evaluation · 2010

Research notes

A strategy with a public brand rather than a single media campaign. The 'Choose Life' name is shared with unrelated US licence-plate and anti-abortion uses.

Record cases/choose-life.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign