Predicting frequency of suicide attempts of adolescent outpatients at Weskoppies Hospital using clinical and demographic characteristics

Abstract

<p>The prevention of suicide, particularly adolescent suicide, remains one of the biggest challenges in psychiatry.</p><p><strong>Objectives. </strong>To ascertain: (i) clinical and demographic characteristics; and (ii) possible associations between these characteristics and suicide attempt frequency in a selected patient group at Weskoppies Hospital over 4 months.</p><p><strong>Methods.</strong> Fifty adolescent outpatients aged between 13 and 17 years with a history of one or more suicide attempts were interviewed to obtain demographic and clinical features. Chi square and Fisher’s exact tests assessed associations between these features and suicide attempt frequency. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Results.</strong> Of the subjects, 79% were aged between 15 and 17 years; they were predominantly female (62%) and Caucasian (83%). Mainstream and special education schools were equally represented. Three-quarters had reached grades 8 - 10, and 14% lived with both biological parents, 33% in places of safety and 37% with one divorced parent. The minority of caregivers had a history of alcohol abuse and other substance use. Twenty-nine per cent of the subjects had attempted suicide on more than 10 occasions and 23% had made a single attempt. The most common methods were wounding (74%), tablet overdose (34%) and hanging (20%). Psychiatric diagnoses included major depressive disorder (64%), bipolar disorder (38%), alcohol abuse (18%) and other substance abuse (24%). Familial features included depression, substance abuse, antisocial behaviour and suicide. Familial suicidal behaviour included suicide attempts by parents (85%), siblings (36%), aunts and uncles (31%) and cousins (44%). Physical and sexual abuse was reported in 52% of families. Conclusion. Many findings and profiles of other studies were confirmed and point to school and home environments, family psychopathology and psychiatric diagnoses as factors associated with adolescent suicide attempts. Associations between the frequency of suicide attempts and the demographic and clinical characteristics were statistically inconclusive.</p>

Development of a Mobile Application for Detection of Adolescent Mental Health Problems and Feasibility Assessment with Primary Health Care Workers

“…One pitfall is the risk of false positives (Horowitz et al, 2009;Nielssen et al, 2017;Ross et al, 2016). This concern may even be exacerbated in a resourceconstrained environment (Fine et al, 2012). Integrating screening for adolescent mental health problems, and in particular screening for risk of suicide, into a wider comprehensive evaluation of a young person´s mental health and social well-being can somewhat reduce the risk of false positives (Harris et al, 2019;Kessler et al, 2020).…”

The Effect of Paternal Addiction on Adolescent Suicide Attempts: A Qualitative Study

“…Alonzo and colleagues (2014) studied the impact of parental addiction on children’s risk of suicide attempts in the United States and, after adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical variables such as age, gender, race, educational level, family income, and histories of depression, concluded that parental addiction nearly doubled the likelihood that children would attempt suicide in their lifetimes (9). Similarly, Fine and colleagues’ (2012) research in Pretoria (South Africa) on adolescents with a history of suicide attempts showed that 45% of these adolescents’ caregivers had a history of alcohol abuse and 14% had a history of drug abuse; thus, they reported that a history of alcohol and drug abuse among caregivers in an important predictor of adolescent suicide attempts (10). …”

Depression and Suicidal Ideation among College Students with and without Learning Disabilities in Nigeria

“…While a review of theoretical and empirical works show that researches on depression and its effects on Nigerian students are common, investigations on depression and its effect on suicidality in Nigerian students are, however, not that common. Schlebusch, Burrows and Wada (2009), Palmier (2011), Fine, Alison, Vanderwesthuizen and Kruger (2012), and Norhayati and Suen (2014) reported that researches on suicidality in the developing world are sparse for a number of reasons such as socio-cultural taboos, political and economic instability, cultural and religious diversity and beliefs. In relation to taboo, committing suicide is seen as disgraceful and families of people who commit suicide do not openly come out to verify that a family member has committed suicide.…”