Attitudes towards Suicide among Medical and Paramedical Personnel

Background: There is an increase in the suicide rate by 43% in the last three decades (from 1975 to 2005). All the five States viz. Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka have registered consistently higher number of suicidal deaths during the last few years. Attitude plays a key role in preventing suicide and also providing quality care. Aim: To assess the attitude towards suicide among medical and paramedical personnel. Methodology: This study was carried out at Dr. Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Foundation (Dr. PSIMS & RF). Medical professionals and paramedical personnel of our hospital were taken as study group and individuals from general population were taken as the control group. Suicidal attitude questionnaire was employed to measure attitude. Results: Positive attitude towards suicide was observed more among the medical professionals when compared to paramedical and control groups. Conclusion: Levels of attitude towards suicide is not similar for each individual and also differs in between the groups .Low levels of positive attitude among paramedical and control group indicates the need to increase awareness of suicide among the general population and paramedical group for prevention of suicides and to provide better care.