ASSESSMENT OF SUICIDAL RISK IN THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT A MEDICAL UNIVERSITY (PANEL STUDY)
Introduction: Kazakhstan continues to be one of the countries, where the percent of suicides is considerably high. The problem of suicides among younger people is especially relevant. Exposure to psychological stresses, including those connected with a necessity of adaptation to new academic conditions, is one of the suicidal risks factors.
Aim of the study: dynamic assessment of the suicidal risk in the first-year students of a medical university, applying the process of the adaptation toward the academic conditions.
Methods: the two-waved panel assessment of suicidal risk, including the high-leveled one, was conducted among 553 first-year students of three university faculties. As the psychometric tool Paykel Suicide Scale was used. The dynamics was provided through repeated measurements with a nine-month interval (at the beginning and the end of an academic year). The methods of descriptive (calculation of Mean with standard deviation, as well as proportions and their 95% confidence intervals) and comparative statistics (McNemar tests for paired data; Pearson chi-square test, crosstabs Fisher exact test, and Mann-Whitney test for non-paired data). The programme IBM SPSS Statistic (Version 20) was used for the processing of statistic data.
Results: the decrease in the prevalence of suicidal risk was revealed: 47 (8,5%) vs. 20 (3,6%) students (р<0,001). Meanwhile in terms of the high suicidal risk, the study sample did not demonstrate statistically significant difference: 14 (2,5%) and 8 (1,4%) students correspondingly (р=0,25). While being first assessed, the females were more likely to have the suicidal risk (р=0,015), although the difference between sexes has diminished during the observation periоd (р=0,49).
Conclusions: the retaining suicidal risk, which was registered in 20 (3,6%) students, indicates the necessity of development and implementation of the specific preventive measures, including psychocorrection and psychotherapy, as well as accurate diagnostics of psychic adaptation of the students, paying attention to the factors connected with the risk of suicidal behavior.
Gulzan K. Altybaeva, http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9258-4928
Nargul N. Ospanova, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2351-5720
Semey State Medical University, Semey, Republic of Kazakhstan
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