Preventing suicidal behaviour amongst adolsecents: hospital admissions as a behavioural measure in analysing the effectiveness of a school-based programme.
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Date
1995
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Abstract
This study aimed to develop, implement and analyse the effectiveness of a school-based
prevention programme aimed at reducing the high rate of parasuicide amongst Indian
adolescents in Pietermaritzburg, Natal. This thesis is concerned with long-term effects
of the programme, specifically whether the intervention would lead to a decrease in
parasuicide amongst Indian adolescents in this region. Schools were randomly divided
into an intervention ยท and control group, and parasuicide hospital admissions from a local
hospital were examined to determine pre-intervention and post-intervention parasuicide
admission rates. Data analysis attempted to take seasonal fluctuations into account, and
both the T-tests for mean differences and Regression Analyses revealed that in the postintervention
period there was a significant decline in parasuicide admissions for all
adolescents. Furthermore an examination of the data indicates that in the postintervention
period adolescents from the experimental group had significantly lower
hospital admission rates than adolescents from the comparison group. Gender
differences revealed that female adolescents benefitted more from the programme than \
male adolescents. These results are discussed with possible explanations and
recommendations for future research.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.