Enhancing Suicide Prevention Knowledge Among Adolescents Through Structured Teaching

Abstract

Suicide in adolescents is a serious concern, particularly in places with poor and moderate incomes, where knowledge of risk factors and prevention measures is still lacking. The current study sought to ascertain the influence of a structured education program on teenagers' understanding of risk factors and suicide behaviour prevention. A one-group pretest-post-test quantitative pre-experimental design was used. Using simple random sampling, sixty teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 from particular Government Boys and Girls Higher Secondary Schools in Baramulla were chosen. A self-structured knowledge questionnaire was used to gather data. A comprehensive training program that focused on risk factors, warning signals, and preventive strategies of suicide behaviour was implemented after the baseline evaluation. On the seventh day, a post-test evaluation was carried out. Data analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The majority of individuals had inadequate to fairly adequate knowledge, according to pretest results. The majority of teenagers achieved appropriate knowledge levels, and post-intervention findings demonstrated a significant improvement. From 12.6 ± 3.15 in the pretest to 22.0 ± 2.6 in the post-test, there was a significant increase in the mean knowledge score (t = 32.57, p < 0.05). The chosen demographic characteristic and pretest knowledge scores did not significantly correlate. The study comes to the conclusion that school-based mental health efforts should incorporate structured teaching programs since they are very effective at increasing adolescents' understanding of suicide prevention.