Abstract

AimTo provide exploratory and descriptive evidence on the prevalence estimate and some demographic correlates of suicidal behaviour among nursing and midwifery college students in Ghana.DesignWe used a cross‐sectional survey design.MethodAn anonymous survey involving a randomly selected sample of 305 nursing and midwifery college students was conducted in March–May 2017. The Suicide Behavior Questionnaire‐Revised was used to assess suicidal behaviour (i.e., ideation, planning, threat and attempt) and suicidal behaviour risk.ResultsThe lifetime prevalence of suicide ideations (15.4%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.11–0.20), plans (6.6%; 95% CI = 0.04–0.10), attempts (2.3%; 95% CI = 0.01–0.05), threats (13.4%; 95% CI = 0.10–0.18) and 12‐month prevalence of ideations (21.3%; 95% CI = 0.17–0.26) are comparable to estimates found in both high‐income and low‐ and middle‐income countries. However, associations between the demographic variables studied and suicidal behaviour risk were not statistically significant.

Highlights

  • Suicidal behaviour—defined in this study as including suicidal thoughts, plans, threats and attempts to kill oneself—has gained increased public concern, as the phenomenon represents a serious global public health challenge (WHO, 2014)

  • The findings showed among other things that no statisti‐ cally significant relationship exists between religiosity and suicidal ideation in both samples, even though female gender showed a sta‐ tistically significant association with suicidal ideation in the Ghanaian sample (Eshun, 2003)

  • 8.5% of the nursing and midwifery college students surveyed met the criterion for the categorization as being at a high risk of suicidal behaviour (Table 2), indicating the need for further clinical assessment or referral to a mental health professional

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Summary

Introduction

Suicidal behaviour—defined in this study as including suicidal thoughts (ideation), plans (planning), threats and attempts to kill oneself—has gained increased public concern, as the phenomenon represents a serious global public health challenge (WHO, 2014). In Ghana, local media reports are showing frequent cases of suicide. These suicide reports in the media involve youth and students at various levels of education—junior high school, senior high school, college and university (Daily Graphic, 2017; Dailyguide Africa, 2017a,2017b; Frimpong, 2017). Re‐ cent anecdotal reports (Dailyguide Africa, 2016; Kubi, 2017; Nyav, 2015) and findings from a systematic content analysis of recent media reports (see Quarshie, Osafo, Akotia, & Peprah, 2015) show an increasing trend of suicide in youth and students in Ghana. Ghana is a religious country (71.2% Christian and 17.6% Islam; Ghana Statistical Service, 2013) where suicide is fiercely tabooed and (attempted suicide is) criminalized, with no [Correction added on 30 April 2019, after first online publication: The 95% confidence interval [CI] of lifetime suicidal threats reported in the Results section of the Abstract was previously incorrect and has been updated in this current version.]

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