• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.129-140
• /
• 2023

Objectives: Suicide rate in South Korea is one of the major public health concerns. This study examined the factors influencing the suicide methods of people who committed suicide in Gyeonggi-do, which accounts for one-fourth of the population of South Korea. Methods: This study analyzed the data of a total of 13,945 suicide deaths in Gyeonggi-do over a five-year period (2016-2020) provided by the Statistics Korea and the influence of social and demographic characteristics on the analyzed suicide methods. The differences in suicide methods according to the social and demographic characteristics of suicide victims were compared and analyzed through chi-squared, and items with significant differences in univariate tests were analyzed by multiple logisitic regression analysis. Results: Among suicide deaths, the most common method of suicide was hanging (52.4%). In particular, women, were employed, and stayed at home were higher risk of being hanged. The second most common method of suicide was leaping (17.7%). Women under the age of 30, those with a college degree or higher, those who were not working, time of death (6-12), and those outside the home were more likely to choose to take the leap. The third most common method of suicide was gas poisoning (15.8%). Young people under the age of 65, college graduates or higher, without a spouse, were employed, and spring season were at increased risk of choosing gas poisoning. Conclusions: The results highlight the need for policies that consider risk factors such as gender, age, education, marital status, employments status, time of suicide, and place of suicide in order to block access to suicide methods for suicide victims in Gyeonggi-do.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.93-101
• /
• 2018

Purpose: The Korean government has tried to decrease the suicide death rate over the last decade. Suicide attempts, particularly non-fatal attempts, are the most powerful known risk factor for a completed suicide. An analysis of suicide attempt methods will help establish the effective preventive action of suicide. Fit prevention according to the method of suicide attempt may decrease the incidence of suicide death. Self-poisoning is suggested as a major method of both suicide attempts and suicide death. The aim of this study was to determine if a self-poisoning patient is a suitable target for the prevention of the suicide. Methods: This was retrospective analysis of a prospective cohort, which included patients who presented to the emergency department (ED) after a self-harm or suicide attempt from Jan 2013 to Dec 2017. The proportion of methods in suicide attempts, psychological consultation, and fatality according to the suicide attempt method were analyzed. The types of poison were also analyzed. Results: Poisoning was the most common method of suicide attempts (52.1%). The rate of psychological consultations were 18.8% for all patients and 29.1% for poison patients (p<0.001). The rate of mortality in poisoning was 0.6%. Psychological consultation was performed more frequently in admission cases than discharged cases. The most common materials of poisons was psychological medicines and sedatives that had been prescribed at clinics or hospital. Conclusion: Self-poisoning is a major method of suicide attempt with a high rate of psychiatric consultation, low mortality rate, versus others methods. The prevention of suicide death for suicide attempts may focus on self-poisoning, which is the major method of suicide attempts. A suitable aftercare program for self-poisoning may be an effective method for preventing suicide if an early diagnosis and management of psychiatric disorders through psychiatric consultation can be made, and early connection to social prevention program for non-fatal patients are possible.

• Anxiety and mood
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.41-49
• /
• 2012

Introduction : Suicide in Korea has increased to 31.2 persons per 100,000 population, the world's highest level. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the world, but in Korea, it is 4th leading cause of death. Therefore suicide is a serious problem in Korea. Many suicide prevention strategies have been proposed. Despite efforts to prevent suicides in Korea, a steady increases in the number of suicides has been brought into question the effectiveness of suicide prevention activities in Korea. Methods : Strategy of restricting suicide methods in many countries was reviewed. Systematic approach to restrict suicidal methods in Korea is proposed. Results : Restricting suicide methods is one of the effective suicide prevention strategies employed in the UK and other countries. Since many suicides occur impulsively, suicide attempt lethality is an important factor in determining the rate of deaths in suicidal attempts. Physical restriction of suicide methods is important in preventing suicide, but restriction of cognitive access to information about suicide and suicide method is more important in preventing suicide. In particular hanging is one of the most common methods of suicides in Korea, it is crucial to develop strategies to prevent suicide by hanging cognitively. Also information about suicide should be properly controlled. To do this, suicide news reporting guidelines should be observed, and website makers whose websites provoke thoughts about suicide should be more strictly sanctioned. Conclusion : Restricting suicide methods along with other suicide prevention plans may be the most effective way to prevent suicide in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.52 no.1
• /
• pp.80-91
• /
• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to identify relationships among knowledge and skills about suicide prevention, attitudes toward suicide, and burnout of suicide prevention work of nurses at mental health welfare centers. Methods: An explanatory sequential mixed-method research was conducted. For the quantitative study, the subjects (nurses) were 133 nurses executing suicide prevention work. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program. For the qualitative research, 13 nurses with high burnout scores were interviewed. The data were analyzed using theme analysis method. Results: Quantitative results showed the average burnout of suicide prevention work was 54.62 ± 12.51. The burnout of suicide prevention work had significant correlations with attitudes toward suicide (r = .30, p < .001) and suicide prevention skills (r = - .18, p = .037). Qualitative results showed six themes related to burnout of suicide prevention work. They were 'feeling a lack of confidence in one's suicide counselling skills', 'feeling of the limits of one's ability to cope with a suicide crisis', 'feeling regret for not being able to help the clients', 'being over-empathetic to the clients', 'Not being able to understand the clients because the subjects (nurses) opposes committing suicide', and 'thinking that the suicidal thoughts of suicide attempters do not improve'. Conclusion: To reduce burnout of nurses' suicide prevention work at mental health welfare centers, there is a need to develop an educational program considering nurses' attitudes toward suicide and one to enhance their confidence in suicide prevention skills.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.905-916
• /
• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the types of suicide attitudes among the Korean elderly. Method: The Q-methodology which provides a method of analyzing the subjectivity of each item was used. Thirty-four selected Q-statements from 38 subjects were classified into a shape of normal distributionusing a 9 point scale. The collected data was analyzed using a QUANL PC program. Result: Three types of suicide attitudes for research subjects in Korean elderly were identified. Type I is understanding suicide-self conquest and labor type, Type II is opposing suicide-family band foundation type, and Type III is sympathizing with suicide-painful situation escaping type. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that different approaches of suicide prevention programs are recommended based on the three types of suicide attitudes among Korean elderly.

• Child Health Nursing Research
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.34-42
• /
• 2005

Purposes: The purposes of this study were ① to identify the rate of suicide attempts, and ② to investigate relevant variables(family dynamic environment, personality factors) and risk factors for attempting suicide among Korean adolescents. Method: Data were collected through a questionnaire survey. Internal consistencies for this questionnaire ranged from 0.63 to 0.88. Nine hundred and twenty two adolescents were surveyed (delinquent : 367, student : 555), using a proportional stratified random sampling method. Statistical methods employed were chi-square, t-test, and logistic regression analysis. Results: ① The rate of suicide attempts was 10.8％ for the total sample, and the delinquents(19.6％) had a higher rate of suicide attempts than the students(5.1％). ② Adolescents attempting suicide had a greater dysfunctional family dynamic environment and more maladaptive personality than those who did not attempt suicide. ③ Risk factors for suicide attempts among Korean adolescents were way of coping, psychosomatic symptoms, and parental child-rearing attitudes, in that order. Conclusions: Suicide and suicidal behaviors are multifaceted events. For suicide prevention, there is a need to make an independent assessment of the variables such as familial problems, personality and dynamic environment of the families of the adolescents.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.20 no.9
• /
• pp.11-20
• /
• 2015

In order to prevent the elderly people from committing suicide attempts, it is necessary to verify attributes that affect the suicide attempts. It is noted that previous studies have focused on qualitative approaches, and simple correlation analyses to determine the attributes related to the suicide attempts in the elderly people. However, such previous approaches had led to insufficient performance when facing with complicated data sets. In this sense, this study suggests an alternative method in which attribute selection techniques are adopted to determine more relevant attributes of the suicide attempts occurring in Korean elderly people. To verify empirical validity of our proposed method, we used Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) from January 2007 to December 2012. Empirical results proved that the proposed attribute selection techniques showed better predictive effectiveness; 94.4% compared to the simple statistical methods. This study proposes a way to determining the elderly suicide and preventing it to happen.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.20-30
• /
• 2006

An exhibitional suicide is a case of death that the purpose is to demonstrate one's own real intention for others. This exhibitional suicide has a few characteristics that are different from a suicide: seriousness of suicide intention, a method of suicide attempt, and the place of a suicide. In other words, an exhibitional suicide lacks suicide intention, uses a slower method of death, and attempts a suicide at the place which others can easily find. In this light, this paper ascertains that a fair number in poisoning deaths are an exhibitional suicide on the basis of the result of an autopsy by department of forensic medicine school of medicine, Kyungpook National University. The research also confirms that juveniles and women attempt a suicide as often as adults and men, and a great number of suicides are indeed an exhibitional suicide. In terms of a commercial law, many specialists see an exhibitional suicide as an accidental death. However, if we consider an exhibitional suicide as an accidental death, we cannot verify the authenticity of death in an accident. In addition, if we observe the purpose of insurance and suicide exemption period of insurance company, we rather get to know to distinguish an exhibitional suicide from an accident. According to the research, most of the exhibitional suicide results from little or no-relation with others. Therefore, a little interest from family, friend, and neighbor plays a pivotal role in preventing this suicide. Finally, an effort to build database concerning an exhibitional suicide by a psychological autopsy will help people access a plenty of statistical materials and facilitate further study about an exhibitional suicide.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.539-549
• /
• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify attitudes of adolescents toward suicide. Methods: Q-methodology which provides a method of analyzing the subjectivity of each item was used. Thirty middle and high school students classified 37 selected statements into a normal distribution using a 9 point scale. Collected data were analyzed using the Quanl PC Program. Results: Three types of attitudes toward suicide were identified. The first type (opposing suicide-moral minded) showed an attitude of opposing suicide and thinking that suicide is a sin. The second type (understanding-empathizing suicidal person) showed an attitude of understanding the situation of the adolescents who has suicidal ideation and empathizing with them. The third type (ambivalent attitude) showed an attitude of understanding the suicidal person but, at the same time, opposing suicide. Conclusion: Results of the study indicate that different approaches to suicide prevention programs should be developed based on the three types of suicide attitudes among adolescents.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.73-82
• /
• 2011

Objectives: This study is to gain an understanding of the characteristics of suicides committed by university students in Korea by assessing news reports. Methods: A total of 97 news reports on university student suicides on daily newspapers and TV newscasts from 2000 to 2011 are included in this study. Analyses were performed on sociodemographic characteristics of suicided university students and temporal and other characteristics of the suicides. Results: Suicide rate was higher among males than females. The most frequently used method of suicide was jumping off while the most common place was the students’ residence. Issues related to academic and financial problems topped as the reasons for suicide. There were no differences in the reasons for committing suicide by school year and enrollment, but the location and season of committing suicide differed by reasons for suicide. Conclusions: Implication of this study, discussion on the results and suggestions for suicide prevention are discussed.