Comparisons in the attitudes toward suicide among urban residents, lawmakers and community mental health workers in South Korea

Abstract

The attitudes of the general public and lawmakers toward suicide can influence the degree to which suicide prevention is prioritized in public policymaking. In this study, we compared the attitudes of urban residents, lawmakers, and community mental health workers toward suicide. Urban residents (N = 501) were surveyed through a telephone interview, while self-reported questionnaire was administered by lawmakers (N = 156) and community mental health workers (N = 121) through office visit and post, respectively. We used the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire to measure attitudes toward suicide in all three samples. Both the general public and legislators had insufficient knowledge and more permissive and uncaring attitudes toward suicide, whereas community mental health workers were more inclined to have sufficient knowledge of suicide and more intolerant and caring attitudes towards suicide. Therefore, lawmakers and the general public require education on suicide and suicide prevention, which may help lower South Korea's high suicide rate ranking among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member states.