Professionals attitudes in a general hospital towards suicide

Abstract

Objectives: to evaluate the attitudes of health professionals towards patients who are victims of self-inflicted injuries with suicidal intent. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study, with a quantitative approach, carried out in a hospital in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte. The population consisted of the multidisciplinary team that worked in emergency rooms and medical clinics. A questionnaire with sociodemographic and professional characterization data and The Suicide Behavior Attitude Questionnairewere applied. Data were collected from August to October 2019 with 104 professionals. After collection, the data were double entered into the Microsoft Office Excel® program, and transferred from the spreadsheet to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences® software, where descriptive statistical analysis was performed to verify relative and absolute frequencies and measures of central tendency and dispersal. Results: 78.8% of the participants had not previously worked in mental health services. Regarding the questionnaire, there was a higher average in the factor “right to suicide”, where mid-level professionals, nursing technicians, nursing staff and professionals from the medical clinic sector pointed out a more moralistic attitude towards suicide, in relation, respectively, to to higher education professionals, nurses, other professionals and emergency room professionals. Conclusion: The data point to the importance of organizing the health network as a whole and the qualification of professionals in the face of complex decision-making involving suicidal behavior.