Suicide among Aboriginals

Abstract

There is no question that suicide among Aboriginal peoples is a big and dramatic health issue in Canada as well as in other countries. This series of 3 articles will try to shed some light on a complex and pressing public health problem that we, as health professionals, must address. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada recently released a report focusing on all aspects of the status of First Nations peoples, including health status. This report identified suicide (rates) as an indicator of the progress in closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. Suicide rates are quite high, and it is well known that suicide rates among Aboriginal populations are at least double that found in the general population. 1 Kirmayer 2 noted that among Aboriginals, there is an increase in suicide rates, and this author also stressed the fact that suicides often occur in clusters, a marked distinctive characteristic of Aboriginal suicides. Culture and language play an important but unclear role in the rise of suicide and mental health problems, in general. It seems that there is definitely a link between language, a major expression of culture, and suicide rates. For example, Chandler and Lalond 3 found lower suicide rates among British Columbia Aboriginal communities where the native language was still spoken. Hallet et al. 4 stipulated that many Aboriginal languages are in danger of disappearing and consequently contributing to the disappearance of cultural identities. These identities, which Aboriginal languages mediate, are definitely in threat. Hallet et al. 4 added that failure to achieve any viable sense of self or cultural continuity is strongly linked with self-destructive and suicidal behaviors. Suicide is in fact the 'coal miner's canary' of cultural distress, as Hallet et al. 4 wrote. We still know very little about the intersection of culture, suicide, depression, and history, according to Waldram. 5 One has to develop an integrated explanation of why some communities have much lower suicide rates than others and why some individuals suffer so much more distress than others. These 3 articles try to give some interpretations on a complex phenomenon such as suicide among Aboriginal people; they also propose some solutions about how to address and respond to this complex problem.

The Statistic Model Of Suicide Risk Among Russian Students

“…A comprehensive assessment of the suicide risk is one of the most important tasks if the field of suicide prevention. The clinical methods of suicide risk assessment are difficult in mass monitoring (Patry & Magaletta, 2015;Tempier, 2016;Miklin, Mueller, Abrutyn, & Ordonez, 2019;McCusker, 2019).…”

Influences on the suicide crisis amongst First Nation Youth in northern Ontario

“…In search for relevant literature, the concept of cluster suicide was brought up in one of the articles. For example, in articles by Eggertson (2015) and Tempier (2016) the authors discuss that often suicide amongst Aboriginal youth happen in clustersmany suicides happening in a small period of time or close together. In Eggertson (2015), the author states how a recent study had found suicide clusters occurring of three to five youth in northern Ontario First Nation communities.…”