Opinions and attitudes of postgraduates towards suicide attempts in a rural tertiary medical college of India

Abstract

Background: Suicide, commonly defined as 'an act of self-destruction, initiated and committed by a person who is aware of the fatal outcome and has substantial socioeconomic and cultural influences. The current suicide rate in India is 10.6/100,000 population. Doctors play an active part in the treatment and prevention of patients with suicide attempts, and their therapeutic endeavors may interrupt the ongoing suicidal process. The aims and objectives of this study were to assess the Opinions and Attitudes of the postgraduates of the various clinical departments towards suicide and to find out for any differences among postgraduates of Surgical and Medical groups who manage the consequences of the chosen methods of the suicidal attempts of the patients. Postgraduates of psychiatry were not included. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study done on various nonpsychiatric postgraduates between October and November 2019 in R L Jalappa Hospital, a constituent unit of Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, who are assessed using structured and validated instruments, the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire, and Attitudes to Suicide Prevention Scale. Results: The majority of both the Surgical and allied science groups with the Medicine and allied science group nonpsychiatric postgraduates had a negative disposition towards suicide attempters and negative attitudes towards suicide prevention strategies and there was no statistical difference among them. Conclusion: There must be training for non-psychiatric specialists towards suicide regularly and change in their respective PG training curriculum towards the approach of patients with self-injurious behaviors.