Suicidal Thoughts, Attempts and Motives Among University Students in 12 Muslim-Majority Countries

Eskin, Mehmet; AlBuhairan, Fadia; Rezaeian, Mohsen; Abdel‐Khalek, Ahmed M.; Harlak, Hacer; El-Nayal, Mayssah; Asad, Nargis; Khan, Aqeel; Mechri, Anwar; Noor, Isa Multazam; Hamdan, Motasem; Isayeva, Ulker; Khader, Yousef; Sayyari, Alaa Al; Khader, Albaraa; Behzadi, Bahareh; Öztürk, Cennet Şafak; Hendarmin, Laifa Annisa; Khan, Murad Moosa; Khatib, Salam

doi:10.1007/s11126-018-9613-4

Cited by 61 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…There was a degree of internal validity in the findings as three of the less-traditional Islamic countries were only moderately significantly different from the Western comparator countries ( P < 0.03); the significance of the difference was stronger for the former USSR group ( P < 0.001) and markedly higher for the Gulf Arab states and Middle Eastern and North African countries ( P < 0.0001). This supports earlier research, which found a likelihood of underreporting of suicide in Islamic countries 14 that appears to have persisted more than a decade later. Furthermore, a very recent Iranian study using a new network method showed that suicide attempts and completed suicides continue to be officially underreported.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…From a public health and policy point of view, mental health services in all countries, but especially those with strong cultural taboos against suicide, need to have more accurate suicide data to attract resources to reduce the risk of unmet needs. 3–6,12–14 These results from 21 Islamic countries suggest that the authorities should review their situation and regard suicide as a public health problem as these results appear to be at odds with officially reported levels of suicide.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[8][9][10] Mental health problems are recognised as being a major factor in suicide in Western countries, 1,2,5,11 yet mental illness occurs in all cultures and it is increasingly being acknowledged that suicidal ideation does occur among Muslim people. [12][13][14] It is evident therefore that despite the long-standing religious and cultural prohibitions, being a Muslim does not exclude one from having such an ideation. However, there are always individual variations among cultural groups so that not all Muslims will necessarily feel any conflict, while non-religious people might well feel that suicide is against their world view on the sanctity of life.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Undetermined and accidental mortality rates as possible sources of underreported suicides: population-based study comparing Islamic countries and traditionally religious Western countries

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Four Western countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal) with strong Orthodox and Catholic traditions have been associated with the underreporting of death by suicide, and underreported suicides are sometimes found among deaths recorded as ‘undetermined’ or ‘accidental’. Aims This population-based study tests whether there are any significant difference in patterns of suicides, undetermined deaths and accidental deaths between these four Western countries and 21 predominately Islamic countries. Method World Health Organization age-standardised death rates per million population were used to compare suicide rates with combined undetermined death and accidental death (UnD+AccD) rates, from which odds ratios were calculated. Substantial odds ratios (OR > 2.0) were taken as indicative of likely underreporting of suicides. The Islamic countries come from four different historico-cultural regions, described as: less-traditional Islamic countries; former USSR countries; Gulf Arab states; and Middle Eastern and North African countries. χ2-tests were used to determine any significant differences between the Western comparator countries and the Islamic regions. Results For the Western comparator countries, the average suicide rate was 66 per million population, the average undetermined death rate 56 per million and the average accidental death rate 58 per million, yielding a suicide:UnD+AccD odds ratio (OR) of 1.73. The average values for the other three groups were as follows. Less-traditional Islamic countries: suicide rate, 31 per million; UnD+AccD rate, 101 per million; suicide:UnD+AccD OR = 3.3. Former USSR countries: suicide rate, 61 per million; UnD+AccD rate, 221 per million; suicide:UnD+AccD OR = 3.6. Gulf Arab states: suicide rate, 10 per million; UnD+AccD rate, 76 per million; suicide:UnD+AccD OR = 8.6. Middle Eastern and North African countries: suicide rate, 6 per million; UnD+AccD rate, 151 per million; suicide:UnD+AccD OR = 25.2. The patterns of these mortalities in the Islamic countries was significantly different from Western comparator countries. Conclusions The results indicate underreporting of suicides in Islamic countries. This might inadvertently lead to reduced access to mental health preventive services in both Western and Islamic countries.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Undetermined and accidental mortality rates as possible sources of underreported suicides: population-based study comparing Islamic countries and traditionally religious Western countries

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There are also several studies done on tertiary students concerning their mental health (Eskin et al, 2019; Francis et al, 2019; Gan & Hue, 2019; Mooi, Ali, Theng, & Salim, 2019; Salam et al, 2019) and their perception of psychiatry (Hor, Russell, Vasudevan, & O' Brien, 2020; Russell et al, 2019). These studies mainly explore the students' perception of psychiatric related topics and also their stress management skills (Masilamani et al, 2020; Movahed, Mokhtar, & Hassan, 2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The state of psychiatric research in the Asia Pacific region

Roche

Fung

Ransing

et al. 2020

Asia-Pacific Psychiatry

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction This study aims to review recent scientific publications and research output in the field of psychiatry, from a series of countries in the Asia‐Pacific region (Australia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, and Nepal), with a view to identify themes and similarities across regions, as well as to examine the barriers and challenges in mental health research faced by countries in the region. Methods Seven psychiatrists from seven countries reviewed recent published and ongoing research in psychiatry in their respective nations, with respect to themes, as well as any barriers or challenges faced by mental health researchers. Results While the seven nations included in this review vary in terms of research capabilities and economic development level, they share many similarities both in terms of research direction, and with regards to challenges faced. Limitations in the form of sociocultural differences from the West, and a lack of funding were some of the barriers identified. Discussion Mental health research in the region has been progressing well. However, more varied research in the form of qualitative or economic studies are lacking, as are multi‐center studies. The similar issues that nations face with regards to research could perhaps benefit from collaborative efforts and initiatives for the furtherance of research in the region.

show abstract

“…Iran, as one of the developing countries located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, followed the global trend of suicide among university students. The university student suicide rates in Iran for men, women, and both were 4.20%, 2.90%, and 3.60%, respectively [ 4 ]. In one epidemiological survey of attempted suicide in Iran during 2007–2011, 72% were below 30 years [ 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accurate Diagnosis of Suicide Ideation/Behavior Using Robust Ensemble Machine Learning: A University Student Population in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Suicide is one of the most critical public health concerns in the world and the second cause of death among young people in many countries. However, to date, no study can diagnose suicide ideation/behavior among university students in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region using a machine learning approach. Therefore, stability feature selection and stacked ensembled decision trees were employed in this classification problem. A total of 573 university students responded to a battery of questionnaires. Three-fold cross-validation with a variety of performance indices was sued. The proposed diagnostic system had excellent balanced diagnosis accuracy (AUC = 0.90 [CI 95%: 0.86–0.93]) with a high correlation between predicted and observed class labels, fair discriminant power, and excellent class labeling agreement rate. Results showed that 23 items out of all items could accurately diagnose suicide ideation/behavior. These items were psychological problems and how to experience trauma, from the demographic variables, nine items from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5), two items from Post Traumatic Growth (PTG), two items from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), six items from the Positive Mental Health (PMH) questionnaire, and one item related to social support. Such features could be used as a screening tool to identify young adults who are at risk of suicide ideation/behavior.

show abstract

Suicidal Thoughts, Attempts and Motives Among University Students in 12 Muslim-Majority Countries

Cited by 61 publications

References 42 publications

Undetermined and accidental mortality rates as possible sources of underreported suicides: population-based study comparing Islamic countries and traditionally religious Western countries

Undetermined and accidental mortality rates as possible sources of underreported suicides: population-based study comparing Islamic countries and traditionally religious Western countries

The state of psychiatric research in the Asia Pacific region

Accurate Diagnosis of Suicide Ideation/Behavior Using Robust Ensemble Machine Learning: A University Student Population in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About