Nursing Teachers’ Attitude Towards Suicide Prevention- A Study From Gujarat.

ABSTRACT

Background: Suicide is a global health problem and the second leading cause of death in 15-29 years of age. There were reports of nursing students committing suicide in Gujarat. As nursing teachers are the important gatekeepers, it was essential to study their attitude towards suicide prevention. Methodology: A questionaire containing 20 statements, derived from the Attitude towards suicide prevention scale and from the Suicide opinion questionnaire, to be marked as ‘agree’, ‘disagree’ or ‘uncertain’ was administered to 80 nursing teachers from Gujarat. This was followed by an interactive session on suicide prevention. Results: Most of the nursing teachers felt that suicide prevention was their responsibility, that a large proportion of suicides was preventable, most suicides were impulsive and that suicide in the young was particularly puzzling. However, nearly 80 % felt that those who are serious about committing suicide usually don’t tell anyone. Around one-fifth felt there was no way of knowing who was going to commit suicide and they were not comfortable in assessing suicide risk. Conclusion: The overall attitude of the nursing teachers towards suicide prevention was positive. However more educational and skill-based training programmes are required to better equip the nursing teachers for suicide prevention.