Citation

Suokas J, Suominen K, Lönnqvist J. Nord. J. Psychiatry 2008; 62(2): 144-146.

Affiliation

Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland. jaana.suokas@ktl.fi

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/08039480801983547

PMID

18569778

Abstract

Emergency personnel attitudes towards suicide attempters are important because they have a key role in the management of these patients. We examined the association between staff members' psychological distress and the attitudes towards suicide attempters. We also compared the attitudes towards suicide attempters among emergency personnel between a general and a psychiatric hospital. The Understanding Suicidal Patients (USP) Questionnaire and the 12-item version of General Health Questionnaire were given to all staff in the emergency rooms of a general hospital and a psychiatric hospital (n=151). There was a general tendency among emergency room staff to view attempted suicide patients positively and sympathetically. However, there were clear differences in staff attitudes between the two hospitals: those working in the general hospital expressed more negative attitudes than those in the psychiatric hospital. No evidence emerged of association between staff members' psychological distress and negative attitudes towards suicide attempters. There was no association between psychological distress and negative attitudes towards suicide attempters.

Language: en