Midorikawa H, Tachikawa H, Nemoto K, Morita N, Shiratori Y, Endo G, Taguchi T, Arai T. Asian J. Psychiatry 2019; 47: e101842.
Affiliation
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8575, Japan.
AIMS: We aimed to investigate the association between general mental health and attitudes toward suicide of participants in suicide-prevention gatekeeper training programs.
METHODS: We conducted a number of half day training seminars within a suicide prevention program addressing gatekeepers. Participants filled in two questionnaires, one measuring general health (General Health Questionnaire, GHQ-12), and one measuring attitudes towards suicide (ATTS).
RESULTS: The total sample size of participants was 230, of whom 115 completed questionnaires. There were no significant differences in demographic backgrounds between the good mental health (GHQ-12 ≤ 4) and the poor mental health (GHQ-12 ≥ 5) groups. The poor mental health group was more likely to think that people have the right to commit suicide.
CONCLUSION: There was a difference in attitudes toward suicide between the good mental health and the poor mental health groups, indicating that attention should be paid to participants' mental health when conducting suicide-prevention gatekeeper training.