Attitudes toward suicide among mental health professionals
Titel:
Attitudes toward suicide among mental health professionals
Auteur:
Swain, Barbara J. Domino, George
Verschenen in:
Death studies
Paginering:
Jaargang 9 (1985) nr. 5-6 pagina's 455-468
Jaar:
1985-10-01
Inhoud:
The Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ) and the Recognition of Suicide Lethality (RSL) scale were administered to 141 mental health professionals representing seven groups: family practice physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses and aides, social workers, crisis line workers, and clergy. The results indicate significant differences among groups on 5 of the 15 SOQ factors, on a clinically derived empathic understanding scale, and on the RSL. Major findings of the study include: (a.) the complexity of attitudes towards suicide; (b) substantial differences between clergy and other mental health professionals; (c) differences between physicians and psychologists on attribution of manipulative motivation to suicide attempts; (d) a relationship between attitudes and personal familiarity with suicide; (t) an ordering of professional groups on the Empathic Understanding Scale reflecting psychological, medical, or religious training; (i) group differences on the recognition of suicide lethality signs; and (g) a relationship between knowledge of lethality and several attitudinal factors.