Associations between health-related self-efficacy and suicidality

Abstract

BackgroundFew studies have focused on exploring the association of self-efficacy and suicidal behaviour. In this study, we aim to investigate the association between health-related self-efficacy and suicidality outcomes, including lifetime/recent suicidal ideation, suicidal attempts and future intent of suicide.MethodsA computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) system was used to draw potential respondents aged over 15 in Taiwan via telephone numbers, which were selected by a stratified proportional randomization method according to the distribution of population size in different geographic areas of Taiwan. We obtained available information on suicide behaviours for the analysis of 2110 participants. Logistic regression was applied to investigate the independent effect of health-related self-efficacy on life-time suicidal thoughts and attempts.ResultsSuicidality measured as suicide ideation and attempted suicide was reported as 12.6 and 2.7% respectively in the sample. Among those with suicide ideation, 9.8% had thoughts of future suicide intent. Female gender, low education, people living alone or separated, history of psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, poor self-rated mental health and physical health were associated with suicidality factors. Low health-related self-efficacy was associated with lifetime suicide ideation, prior suicide attempt and future suicidal intent. Among those with recent suicidal ideation, low health self-efficacy was independently associated with future suicide intent after adjustment of gender, age, education, marital status, substance abuse, psychological distress, poor mental and physical health.ConclusionHealth-related self-efficacy was associated with suicide risks across different time points from prior ideation to future intention. Evaluation of the progress of self-efficacy in health may be long-term targets of intervention in suicide prevention strategies.

Collective action among US veterans: Understanding the importance of self‐efficacy, collective efficacy, and social support

“…He expanded on this definition by focusing on perceived self-efficacy, which represents how an individual perceives her or his ability to be successful in pursuing a goal or desired result (Bandura, 1982;Ohmer, 2007). Examples of outcomes associated with greater self-efficacy include greater subjective well-being (Bano & Sitwat, 2017), successful smoking cessation (L. M. Warner et al, 2018), greater health-related knowledge (Lin, Dollahite, Sobal, & Lujan, 2018), improved future thinking and social decision-making in veterans with PTSD (Brown et al, 2016), lower levels of suicide ideation and suicide attempts (Isaac, Wu, Lee, & McLachlan, 2018), and lower risk of all-cause mortality (Assari, 2017). Bandura (1982) further noted that there is often a need to go beyond the individual to what he termed collective efficacy.…”

Suicide Attempts and Contributing Factors among South and North Korean-Family Youth Using the Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey

“…Relatively good perceived health and sleep satisfaction were associated with a lower risk of suicide attempt among the North Korean respondents compared to those with poor perceived health and poor sleep. A previous study by Isaac et al [27] found that low health-related self-efficacy was associated with lifetime and recent suicidal ideation, attempts, and future intentions. Further, based on the results of a longitudinal study [28], poor perceived sleep quality may correlate with increased risk of suicide after controlling for the effect of depressive symptoms.…”

A cross-sectional study on associations of physical symptoms, health self-efficacy and suicidal ideation among Chinese hospitalized cancer patients following diagnosis.

“…Previous study found that greater illness burden was signi cantly associated with lower health self-e cacy [32]. Moreover, emerging evidence has demonstrated that lower health self-e cacy increase the risk of suicide behavior across different time points from prior ideation to future intention [33,34]. Therefore, health self-e cacy may play a moderating role in the associations between physical symptoms and SI.…”