title: Nurses' and doctors' attitudes towards suicidal behaviour in young people.
abstract: This paper presents an exploratory study performed to identify the attitudes towards suicidal behaviour in young people, amongst nurses (and nursing lecturers), and doctors working in in-patient medical and mental health care settings. The Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ) was administered to 59 participants. Responses were scored using eight clinical scales, and tested by using a Kruskal-Wallis one way analysis of variance. An Independent Sample t-test was used to analyse gender differences. Qualitative interviews were conducted in a sample of respondents. SOQ findings revealed no overall significant differences in the relevant groups of nurses and doctors, with the exception of gender and the clinical scale relating to a 'Cry for Help'. The focused interviews generated five categories relating to suicidal behaviour and young people. Nurses and doctors working in these areas possess a range of influential perceptions of suicidal behaviour and need to be considered in the contexts of care and treatment of young people.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, UK. martin.anderson@nottingham.ac.uk
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Standen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nazir
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Noon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires