Citation

Draper B, Krysinska K, De Leo D, Snowdon J. Suicidol. Online 2014; 5(1): 24-32.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, The author(s), Publisher Medical University of Vienna, Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

Health care professional (HCP) attitudes towards suicide prevention vary with their training and could influence assessment and management of suicidal patients. We aimed to examine attitudes towards suicide and health care interventions to prevent suicide in mental health and other health care professionals. The sample was obtained from two separate study cohorts: 1) a controlled psychological autopsy study of suicide (n = 301), with HCP interviewed by telephone or face-to-face in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, and 2) an anonymous online survey (n = 61) by email invitation to mental health service clinicians and general practitioners (GP) in eastern Sydney. Attitudes towards suicide and suicide prevention were measured by a 14- item survey. The sample of HCP included GPs (n = 172), psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists (n = 67), mental health nurses (n = 36), psychologists (n = 28), medical specialists (n = 26), and other health professionals, including counsellors, social workers, allied health professionals, general nurses and dentists (n = 33). The majority were male (66.3%), were in private practice (62.2%) and had experienced a suicide in their practice (84.0%). Medical specialists had significantly more negative attitudes towards suicide prevention than the other HCP groups. Mental health professionals had more positive attitudes towards suicide prevention and felt more competent about identifying and managing suicidal patients than other HCPs. Psychiatrists had more positive attitudes than mental health nurses. Attitudes towards suicide prevention interventions vary significantly between HCP occupational groups, and this has the potential to affect the assessment and management of suicidal individuals.

Copyrights belong to the Author(s). Suicidology Online (SOL) is a peer-reviewed open-access journal publishing under the Creative Commons License 3.0.

Language: en