Effectiveness of Mental Health Intervention for Suicide Prevention

Abstract

Background: Various mental health interventions like priority in-patient care, ECT, psychotherapies, pharmacotherapies, etc. have been tried throughout the world to decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with suicide behavior. Aims: To establish the effectiveness of mental health intervention for preventing suicide, for those at risk and to understand the perception of patients and family members about the usefulness of interventions for preventing suicide. Material and methods: The patients admitted to the Psychiatry Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), in view of suicide behavior, during the 12 months period from 1st July 2018 to 30th June 2019 were included in the study. A target population of 88 patients was taken up for cross-sectional follow-up assessment. They were assessed for suicide behavior for the period of 12 months prior to and subsequent to the hospitalization. Results: A statistically significant difference was found in both, the number of patients attempting suicide before and after hospitalization (N = 88, Chi-square = .2, p-value < 0.04), as well as in the mean number of attempts before and after hospitalization (N = 88, p-value <0.01). Also, three fourth of patients/family members were completely satisfied with the care provided while the remaining one-fourth were only partially satisfied. Conclusion: This study has established not only the usefulness of timely mental health intervention for the prevention of suicide as perceived by family or patients but also provides statistical evidence for the effectiveness of such mental health interventions.