Prevalence and predictors of suicidality among nursing students in Indonesia

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing students are a vulnerable population during the COVID-19 pandemic because they experience a higher level of stress and mental health problems than the non-healthcare student population, putting them at a higher risk for suicidal behaviour. Aim: To explore suicidality among nursing students and assess the association between independent variables and suicidality. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 670 nursing students from 5 Indonesian universities who were recruited using consecutive sampling. Self-administered validated instruments consisted of 8 sections: sociodemographic questionnaire, RSES to assess self-esteem, BHS to assess hopelessness, UCLA-3 to assess loneliness, GSES to assess self-efficacy, PHQ-9 to assess depression, CD-RISC-10 to assess resilience, and SBQ-R to assess suicidality. Binary logistic regression was employed to identify significant predictors of suicidality. Results: Suicidality prevalence among nursing students was 22.8%. The following factors were significantly associated with suicidality (p < 0.05): low resilience (AOR = 2.044; 95%CI: 1.309–3.192), loneliness (AOR = 1.609; 95%CI: 1.040–2.492), hopelessness (AOR = 4.448; 95%CI: 2.356–8.398), and depression (AOR = 9.413; 95%CI: 5.795–15.288). Conclusions: These findings provide evidence that resilience, loneliness, hopelessness, and depression are risk factors for suicidality among nursing students. This outcome can be used as a basis to develop appropriate suicide prevention strategies.