Background:
According to the World Health Organization, more
than 800,000 people die from suicide each year. Doctors
have the highest rate of suicide among all the
professionals. No detailed study investigating the
frequency of suicidal ideation and its associated risk
factors among medical students has been conducted in
Pakistan. This is the first study of its kind to be
conducted among medical students of Pakistan. The
aims and objectives of the study were to find the
frequency of suicidal ideation among the medical
students of RMC in the year 2021, to find out the most
common associated risk factors, and to suggest
interventions and recommendations.
Methods:
The study was carried out at the Old and New
teaching blocks of the Rawalpindi Medical University.
The screening questionnaire used for phase 1 was
“Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R)”
with the cut-off score of > 7. For phase 2, a questionnaire
containing twenty-eight questions detailing the
potentiating risk factors based on internationally
standardized questions was developed. Data analysis was
done using SPSS version 22.
Results:
The sample size was 862 using stratified sampling
technique. The frequency of suicidal ideation among
medical students of RMC in 2021 was 20.2%. This
translates to roughly 1 in every 5 students. The mean
frequency of male students was significantly higher than
that of the females (24.7% vs 19.4%), with no significant
difference between the mean frequencies associated with
the boarding status. Third year students reported the
highest percentage of suicidal ideation at 26%, with
fourth year having the highest mean score of 11.59,
denoting the maximum severity. The three most common
potentiating factors across all academic years were
communication problems, academic failures, and risky
activities. In third year, 60% students with suicidal
ideation were unaware about the availability of the
campus mental health resources.
Conclusion:
A significant percentage of medical students in
Rawalpindi Medical University report suicidal ideation,
which should be recognized, acknowledged, and
addressed at an early stage by the University
administration and the mental health department.
Keywords :
Suicide, Suicidal Ideation, Potentiating Factors, Rawalpindi Medical University, Mental Health.