Nurses' Views of Parasuicide in a Developing Country

Abstract

This study examines the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, intentions and experiences of nurses at various stages of their careers with regard to patients who have made suicide attempts. It focuses particularly on the relationship of traditional Shona beliefs about suicide and considers how they interact with western medical beliefs. A detailed questionnaire covering these elements was administered to three groups of nurses. They were sampled at either the beginning or end of their training or after approximately ten years experience. Knowledge of suicide was found to be poor and attitudes towards parasuicide were negative. Traditional beliefs were held strongly by all groups of nurses; western beliefs were strongest amongst experienced nurses. Practical implications of these attitudes and beliefs for training are considered.

Nurses’ behavioural intentions towards self‐poisoning patients: a theory of reasoned action, comparison of attitudes and subjective norms as predictive variables

“…The following study is a theory of reasoned action analysis of the behavioural intentions of hospital nursing staff towards self-poisoning patients. Although this approach has only rarely been employed previously in studies of health care professionals' attitudes towards self-poisoning patients (Elliot et al 1992), it has been used successfully in Issues and innovations in nursing practice a number of other areas of health care study (e.g. Schifter & Ajzen 1985, Godin et al 1992, Terry et al 1993, Conner & Sparks 1996.…”

Community psychiatric nurses' experience of working with people who engage in deliberate self‐harm

“…However, a literature search of CINAHL, EMBASE and Web of Science since 1984, using the terms ‘self‐harm’, ‘self‐injury’, ‘self‐mutilation’, ‘self‐poisoning’, ‘attempted suicide’ and ‘parasuicide’ combined with ‘attitude’, ‘impact’, ‘effect’, ‘stress’, ‘burnout’, ‘staff’, ‘nurse’, ‘mental health’ and ‘health professional’, revealed very few studies relating to experience of health‐care professionals generally and even less to nursing staff (e.g. Anderson 1997; Elliot et al . 1992; Gough & Hawkins 2000; Hemmings 1999; Hopkins 2002; Huband & Tantam 2000; McAllister et al .…”

“…However, a literature search of CINAHL, EMBASE and Web of Science since 1984, using the terms 'self-harm', 'self-injury', 'selfmutilation', 'self-poisoning', 'attempted suicide ' and 'parasuicide' combined with 'attitude', 'impact', 'effect', 'stress', 'burnout', 'staff', 'nurse', 'mental health' and 'health professional', revealed very few studies relating to experience of health-care professionals generally and even less to nursing staff (e.g. Anderson 1997;Elliot et al 1992;Gough & Hawkins 2000;Hemmings 1999;Hopkins 2002;Huband & Tantam 2000;McAllister et al 2002;McKinlay et al 2001;Platt & Salter 1987;Sidley & Renton 1996;Smith 2002), and none to CPNs specifically. As such, the extant literature has, tended to concentrate on Accident and Emergency staff and those working in general medical settings, such as on admission wards to the exclusion of key psychiatric personnel who regularly intervene with DSH.…”

Mental Illness Beliefs in Malaysia: Ethnic and Intergenerational Comparisons

“…In the United States, the biomedical model has become a dominant perspective of psychological disorders, and psychological problems are commonly interpreted as brain chemical imbalances, and treatment often includes medication (Good, 1992;Myers, 1998). However, several studies concerning illness beliefs in other cultures, highlight the importance of social and religious beliefs in the perceptions of both causes and treatments of mental illness (Casto & Eroza, 1998;Csordas & Lewton, 1998;Elliot, Pitts & McMaster, 1992;Garro, 1998). For example, the majority of patients admitted to a mental hospital in Malawi attributed their illness to traditional beliefs including bewitching and jealousy of achievement (Maclachlan, Nyirenda & Nyando, 1995).…”