title: Nursing students' attitude toward suicide prevention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Preventing suicide depends upon different health professionals' knowledge regarding suicide, attitude toward suicide attempters, skills to assess and manage suicidal risk.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was aimed to assess the attitude of nursing students toward suicide prevention.
  
  
  METHODS
  308 nursing students were recruited from the two institutions through total enumeration method. Attitude toward suicide prevention scale was administered. Study design was cross-sectional.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Majority were single females, from urban locality, who were pursuing BSc Nursing with the mean age of 20 years. Only minority had previous exposure to suicide prevention programs or workshops. Nearly half of the subjects had positive attitude toward working with suicidal patients. Again half of the subjects considered unemployment and poverty as main causes of suicide and were quite hopeless about it and they also perceived that most of the suicidal people would not reveal their suicidal plans to others.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Merely half of the students had positive attitude toward working with suicidal patients. Hence, there is strong need to organize more educational and training programs on suicide prevention so that these budding health professionals could be more equipped and trained to manage these suicidal patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Science, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Naresh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nebhinani
authors.affiliation: Silver Oaks College of Nursing, Mohali, Punjab, India.
authors.lastname: Mamta
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Achla D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Gaikwad
authors.affiliation: Dr. Syamala Reddy College of Nursing, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tamphasana
keywords: Attitudes; nursing students; self-harm; suicide; suicide prevention