Knowledge of School Teachers In Secondary Schools of Mumbai city regarding prevention of suicide among adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is a period of turmoil, if not dealt with it effectively. The perplexity which adolescents face could compel them to resort to such an act which could be harmful. The academic failure, loss of loved ones during the period of adolescence can affect them seriously. They may turn to the decision of ending their lives by deliberate self-harm (DSH) i.e. suicide. The school teachers who are around these adolescents for most of the time should be made aware of the prevention of the suicide in adolescents. The study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of planned teaching programme on knowledge regarding prevention of suicide in adolescents among teachers of selected secondary schools in Mumbai city. The study was conducted with a pre-experimental one group pre-test-post-test design. A structured questionnaire was developed to assess the knowledge and a teaching plan was prepared for the planned teaching programme. 70 secondary school teachers were selected with a non-probability convenient sampling technique. The study results confirmed the effectiveness of planned teaching programme in improving the knowledge of teachers regarding the prevention of suicide in adolescents. Except for the awareness of the suicidal tendency in adolescents and the gender, there was no significant association between the pretest knowledge levels and other selected demographic variables.