Risk Factors for Suicidal Ideation in Brazilian University Students: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Developing effective suicide prevention strategies depends on understanding the risk factors of this phenomenon. This study maps the risk factors for suicidal ideation among Brazilian university students using multiple informers: students, health professionals, and course coordinators. The study followed an exploratory, mixed-method study design based on the intervention mapping approach. The first part, qualitative, comprised interviews about suicide risk factors with 20 university students who have had suicidal ideation in the last 12 months. The second part, quantitative, applied a questionnaire on risk factors in university students to 22 health professionals. The third part, qualitative, was an interview about risk factors with 12 undergraduate course coordinators. The qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis, while the quantitative data was analyzed by simple descriptive statistics. The following are the risk factors consistently cited by the three informants: difficulty to carry out young adult developmental tasks, family conflicts, low social support, conflicts in teacher-student relationship, failed institutional support, stress generated by the overload of academic activities, and mental suffering resulting from income inequality. When formulating socio-ecological prevention initiatives focused on students, the university community, the institution, social actors and institutional networks, and public policies, the risk factors must be considered. Hence, investing in decreasing income inequalities policies, professor’s mental health literacy training, institutional welcome policies, peer support through gatekeeper interventions, life skills interventions tailored for emerging adulthood, and mental health promotion in the early stages of life should be the target of efforts.