Study of Person-specifc Life Events Influencing Intentional Self-harm in Young Population in Kericho County, Kenya

Abstract

Background: Suicide has been among the leading causes of death in 15-29-year-old people worldwide. Over three quarters (79%) of all suicides occur in lower and mid-level economic countries. Aim: The study's specific goal was to assess factors influencing personal specific life events on intentional self-organophosphate poisoning. Place and Duration of Study: Study was conducted in Kericho County, health facilities year 2023. Design: The study adopted cross-sectional study design and purposive sampling technique. Methodology: 100 respondents were included in the study(88 males and 12 females). Data Analysis: The collected quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Correlation and regression analysis was carried out to establish relationship between variables. Chi-square also was used to measure correlation of variables.The analyzed data were presented in tables, charts and the corresponding thematic areas. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.  Results: The results indicated that personal life specific perspective showed positive influenced on self-poisoning. The results indicated that personal specific perspectives/events had chi-square of 13.867 where significance was set at p=0.0001 indicating a high likelihood of influencing one to self-poison. Conclusion: Self-poisoning study offers important knowledge on one of the commonest  popular methods of self- suicidal attempts; that can guide on public health approaches to mitigate this phenomenon, and the lack of research on the influences of personality traits and self-poisoning is the main reason for this study.  These cases of self-poisoning influence by self-perfection may increase morbidity and mortality incidences and also overburdening family financially to meet cost of hospitalization.