Counsellors’ Perceived Causes and strategies for reducing suicidal thoughts among secondary school teenagers
Downloads
This study is carried out in Anambra state and it adopted the descriptive survey design. Two research questions guided the study. The sample size of the study comprised of 205 counsellors who are willing to participate in the study and they are drawn through accidental sampling techniques at their areas of meetings. The instrument used for data collection is the counsellors’ perceived causes and strategies for reducing suicidal thoughts among secondary school teenagers questionnaire (CSPCASFRSTASSTSQ). The reliability of the instrument coefficient value of 0.70 is established. On the spot administration is used in administering the instrument to ensure 100% return. The data collected in the study is analyzed using the arithmetic mean. The decision rule is that any of the response item for which the mean score is 2.5 and above is taken to mean that the factor exists while any response item for which the mean score is below 2.5 is taken as not being in existence. The study revealed that the causes of suicidal thoughts among other things include: lack of parental love and care, bullying among peers, substance over use, failures in examinations, sexual abuse and loneliness as the causes of suicidal thoughts among secondary school teenagers as perceived by the counsellors. The study also revealed that the counsellors’ perceived strategies for reducing suicidal thoughts among other things are : help them realize reasons to live and future goals, giving them academic support on how to succeed, teaching them the use of grounding techniques, learning the warning signs of suicidal thoughts as a starting point and offering guidance on ways to reach out to loved ones for support as strategies for reducing suicidal thoughts among secondary school teenagers. The researchers also recommended that government should ensure that every secondary school will have a professional counsellors handling secondary school students’ problems early enough before such escalates and also, school counsellors should be teaching parenting skills to improve family relationships for the betterment of all in the family during Parents’ Teachers Association meetings.
Downloads
Andrews, J. A. & Lewinsohn, P. M. (2012). Suicidal attempts among older adolescents: Prevalence and co-occurrence with psychiatric disorders. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, (32) 655-662.
Carney JV and Hazler RJ. (2000). Suicide and cognitive-behavioral counseling: implications for mental health counselors. J Ment Health Couns; 20(1):28.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C) (2015). Youth risk behavior surveillance system data: Adolescent and school health. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htmSomerville, L. H. (2013). The teenage brain: sensitivity to social evaluation. Curr. Direct. Psychol. Sci. 22, 121–127. doi: 10.1177/0963721413476512
Chibuko, C. (2019). The whole teen: Handling behaviour problems among teens. Pharez Printing Press. ISBB: 978-978-55217-0-2.
Crosby, Alex; Beth, Han (2011). "Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among Adults Aged ≥18 Years --- United States, 2008-2009". Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 60 (13).
Im Y, Oh WO, Suk M. (2017). Risk Factors for suicide ideation among adolescents: five-year national data analysis. Arch Psychiatr Nurs. (2017) 31:282–6. doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2017.01.001
Kerkhof, A. J. F. M. (2014). Suicide and attempted suicide. World Health, 49(2), 18-20.
Lussier SG. (2004). Counselor perspectives on suicide and suicidal ideation: a qualitative study. Gainesville: University of Florida.
Malhi, G., Bell, E., Das, P., and Outhred, T. (2019). Relating irritability and suicidal ideation using mood and anxiety. Evid. Based Ment. Health Ebment. 22, 95–99. doi: 10.1136/ebmental-2019-300100.
Miller, A. B., McLaughlin, K. A., Busso, D. S., Brueck, S., Peverill, M., and Sheridan, M. A. (2018). Neural correlates of emotion regulation and adolescent suicidal ideation. Biol. Psychiatry Cogn. Neurosci. Neuroimag. 3, 125–132. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.08.008
Morese R and Longobardi C (2020) Suicidal Ideation in Adolescence: A Perspective View on the Role of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex. Front. Psychol. 11:713. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00713
O'Connor, R and Pirkis, J. (2016). Suicide clusters. International Handbook of Suicide Prevention, 2nd Edn. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 758–74.
Oppong, K. A.; Kugbey, N., Osafo, J.; Quarshie, E. N. and Sarfo, J. O. (2017). The prevalence and correlates of suicidal behaviours (ideation, plan and attempt) among adolescents in senior high schools in Ghana. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.05.005
Orbach I. (2006). Suicide prevention for adolescents. In: King R, Apter A, editors. Suicide in Children and Adolescents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2006), pp.1–40.
Patel V, Ramasundarahettige C, Vijayakumar L, Thakur JS, Gajalakshmi V, Gururaj G. (2012). Suicide mortality in India: a nationally representative survey. Lancet. (2012) 379:2343–51. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60606-0
Picazo-Zappino J. (2014). Suicide among children and adolescents: a review. Actas Esp Psiquiatr. (2014) 42:125–32.
Rutter M. (2011). Research review: Child psychiatric diagnosis and classification: concepts, findings, challenges and potential. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2011;52:647–60.
Shain B. (2016). Suicide and suicide attempts in adolescents. Pediatrics. 2016; doi:10.1542/peds.2016-1420).
Skerrett DM, Barker E and De Leo D.(2012). Suicide Research: Selected Readings, Vol. 8. A. I. for S. R. Prevention, Ed. (2012). Available online at: www.aapbooks.com
Turecki G, and Brent D (2016). Suicide and suicidal behaviouir. Lancet (2016) 387:1227–39. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00234-2
Uddin, R; Burton, NW; Maple, M; Khan, SR; Khan, A (2019). "Suicidal ideation, suicide planning, and suicide attempts among adolescents in 59 low-income and middle-income countries: a population-based study" (PDF). The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. 3 (4): 223–233. doi:10.1016/S2352-4642(18)30403-6. hdl:10072/387579. PMID 30878117. S2CID 81982117
Use for causes and prevention Bilsen J (2018) Suicide and Youth: Risk Factors. Front. Psychiatry 9:540. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00540
Valois RF, Zullig KJ, Hunter AA. (2013). Association between adolescent suicide ideation, suicide attempts and emotional self-efficacy. J Child Fam Stud. (2013) 24:237–48. doi: 10.1007/s10826-013-9829-8
WHO Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative. Geneva: World Health Organisation (2014). Available online at: http://www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/world_report_2014/en
Copyright (c) 2023 Dr. Uzoekwe Helen Efeyadu, Nnadi, Grace Chinye, Mokwelu Obianuju Blessing, Nwanna Uju C, Ojo Taiwo Abiodun
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
