Abstract
Youth suicide is a public health problem in India, and young people in school, particularly adolescents, experience heavy psychological burden. Prevention programs, involving peer educators (PEs), have proved useful strategies to address this problem, but their impact on the PEs is less understood, particularly in India. This qualitative study aims to explore the changes observed in PE students who were involved in a ‘mindfulness’ and ‘Support-Appreciate-Listen–Team’ (SALT)-based peer education program to address suicidal behavior in Indian school students. One hundred and fourteen students were trained as PEs in six high schools in Pune to identify and respond to the needs of students in distress. By listening to the narratives of the PEs, their parents, school authorities, and the associated NGO team, we reflect on perceived social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive changes in PEs. The PEs demonstrated enhanced caring for those in distress both inside and outside school by improved listening skills, self-awareness, care, and empathy. Furthermore, the program had a positive impact on their broad emotional intelligence and PEs expressed increased ownership of life, taking action, and seeking support where needed. The study concludes that mindfulness and SALT-based peer education (PE) programs are valuable for the PEs. This could be used to motivate PEs to volunteer in such programs. Other results are discussed and further research areas are suggested.
Highlights
Suicide is the third main cause of death among youth (WHO, 2012), of whom many victims are in low- and middle-income countries
We describe the changes of a total of 76 peer educators (PEs) (20 girls and 56 boys) who completed the questionnaire, which is about 67% of all 114 PEs who were involved in the program between 2012 and 2015
Together, recognizing the complex direct and indirect themes that emerged from the analysis, the implications of these effects on the unique challenges and opportunities for peer leaders to grow and develop new skills, are considered within the context of future PE models for suicide prevention in India
Summary
Suicide is the third main cause of death among youth (WHO, 2012), of whom many victims are in low- and middle-income countries. In India, suicides are the main cause of death among youth (Aaron et al, 2004), and the period from 2002 to 2011 has seen a 22% increase in suicide rates, of which about 34.6% are by young people (National Crime Records Bureau, 2013). The number of youth suicides is even higher. Patel et al (2012) found that the percentage of youth suicide (15–29 years) was 56 and 40% among women and men, respectively, adding to a total of about 187,000 deaths in 2010. In a study conducted by Kharsati and Bhola (2015), it was found that more than 30% of the sample college students in India reported nonsuicidal self-harming behavior in the preceding year
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