Evaluation Of Suicide Prevention Program On Psychiatric Nurses’ Knowledge At Psychiatric Teaching Hospitals In Baghdad City

Abstract

Background: Suicide is a critical public health issue that affects people all over the world, and it is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity.

Material and Method:  A quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest research design was conducted to enhance psychiatric nurses’ knowledge about suicide prevention. The study was carried out in Al-Rashad Psychiatric Teaching Hospital and Ibn Rushd Psychiatric Teaching Hospital in Baghdad City. The study included a convenience sample of 72 nurses who work in psychiatric teaching hospitals (36 for the study group and 36 for the control group).The study instrument consists of participants’ sociodemographic sheet (age, gender, and marital status), employment profile (educational qualification, years of experience in nursing, years of experience in psychiatric units, and nurse-to-bed ratio. It also includes Nurses’ Knowledge about Suicide Prevention Scale. 

Results: The study results revealed that there was a noticeable increase in the values of the nurses’ knowledge about suicide as a concept, suicide rate, factors contributing to suicide, symptoms that predict suicide, the diseases that trigger suicide, suicide methods, the ethical principles of dealing with suicide, the suicide treatment methods, the nurses’ role in managing suicide, and nurses’ overall knowledge for the study group over time compared to the control group.

Conclusion: The student researcher concluded that the administered educational program positively influenced nurses’ knowledge about suicide as a concept, nurses’ knowledge about suicide rate, nurses’ knowledge about factors contributing to suicide, nurses’ knowledge about symptoms that predict suicide, nurses’ knowledge about the diseases that trigger suicide, nurses’ knowledge about suicide methods.