ATTITUDES TOWARD SUICIDE PREVENTION AMONG NON-PSYCHIATRIC PHYSICIANS IN SAUDI ARABIA

Objective: To assess the attitude of non-psychiatric physicians in Saudi Arabia toward suicide prevention.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted over period from 1st February 2022 to 30 April 2022 among non-psychiatric physicians in Saudi Arabia. The target population was convenient sample of non-psychiatric physicians working in primary health care centers and hospitals in Saudi Arabia who accept to share in research.  Only those who agreed were included and those who refuse were excluded from research, psychiatric physicians will be excluded too. 

Results: Study included 615 participants. The mean age among study participants was 29.64 + 6.94 years with median age of 27 years. Participants’ age ranged from 19 to 62 years. Male to female ratio was 1:1. Participants were asked about their highest academic qualification. The most frequent qualification was bachelor of medicine and surgery (n= 428, 69.6%). The median duration of working experience among study participants was 2 years and ranged from 1 to 37 years. The most frequent specialty among study participants was intern (n= 162, 26.3%) followed by resident (n= 159, 25.9%). The majority of study participants studied psychiatric during their undergraduate studies (n= 528, 85.9%). On the other hand, only 231 participants had a psychiatric training during internship (37.6%). There were 27.5% of study participants had a history of mental illness (n= 169). Furthermore, 36.7% of study participants had a family history of mental illness (n= 226). About one third of study participants had history of suicidal thoughts (n= 185, 30.1%). Participants’ median scores in attitudes to suicide prevention scale was 48 out of 70. It ranged from 22 to 69 reflecting low to high in attitude positivity. Participants’ responses to scale items were mostly strongly disagree reflecting a positive attitude toward suicide prevention.

Conclusion: Participants scores about attitudes to suicide prevention scale was moderate. About one third of study participants had history of suicidal thoughts. These thought were more prevalent among widow participants, master degree participants and resident and general practitioner participants.