Health Service Protection vis-à-vis the Detection of Psychosocial Risks of Suicide during the Years 2019–2021

Abstract

Health services are especially relevant in suicide prevention and intervention, representing a favourable environment in which to implement specific strategies to detect and address suicidal behaviours. Indeed, a significant proportion of people who die by suicide (DBS) present at primary care and mental health services during the last year, month, or even days before committing suicide. The objective of this descriptive and cross-sectional study of all registered cases of death by suicide (N = 265) in Extremadura (Spain) was to determine which of those people who died by suicide had mental health problems (MHP) and what type of assistance they had requested. Diagnoses, previous suicide attempts, type of health service, and last visit before death were explored with univariate analyses and logistic regressions. The proportion of people without MHP was found to be high, and these people had hardly visited the health services at all in their last year. People with MHP, between the ages of 40 and 69, and with previous suicide attempts were more likely to have visited the mental health service in the three months prior to their death. It is, thus, necessary to provide health professionals with tools and training in the prevention of and approach to suicide. Efforts must be directed towards effectively assessing mental health and the risk of suicide since a large proportion of people who die by suicide may go unnoticed.

Vulnerability to Suicide Ideation: Comparative Study between Adolescents with and without Psychosocial Risk

“…In another sense, there are several protective factors that allow reducing the risk of suicide risk, acting as insulators against it, such as self-esteem [21,43], reasons for living [28], and satisfaction with social support [14,21]. According to the results obtained, at-risk adolescents showed higher self-esteem compared to not-at-risk adolescents, which contradicts the tendency for low self-esteem in this type of population [42].…”

“…Examples of psychological risk factors include impulsivity, low self-esteem, and hopelessness [13]. Several studies suggest that negative life events are a common denominator for most people who commit suicidal acts and, in addition, predispose the development of certain characteristics, such as hopelessness [14,15].…”

Estudo Dos Casos Notificados De Lesões Autoprovocadas No Paraná Entre 2017 E 2021

“…Suicídio e automutilação são experiências intensamente individuais que muitas vezes são marcadores de sofrimento psicológico insuportável, no entanto, o suicídio e a automutilação também são afetados por fatores sociais. Há pelo menos um século que se sabe que a adversidade econômica está associada a taxas mais altas de suicídio (PUIG-AMORES et al, 2023). Os profissionais de saúde precisam estar na vanguarda dos esforços de prevenção do suicídio, porque os formuladores de políticas e o público procurarão a liderança destes profissionais, principalmente em países de baixa e média renda (CAMPOS et al, 2023).…”