Abstract:
Aim: To provide exploratory and descriptive evidence on the prevalence estimate
and some demographic correlates of suicidal behaviour among nursing and midwifery
college students in Ghana.
Design: We used a cross‐sectional survey design.
Method: An anonymous survey involving a randomly selected sample of 305 nursing
and midwifery college students was conducted in March–May 2017. The Suicide
Behavior Questionnaire‐Revised was used to assess suicidal behaviour (i.e., ideation,
planning, threat and attempt) and suicidal behaviour risk.
Results: The lifetime prevalence of suicide ideations (15.4%; 95% confidence interval
[CI] = 0.11–0.20), plans (6.6%; 95% CI = 0.04–0.10), attempts (2.3%; 95% CI = 0.01–
0.05), threats (13.4%; 95% CI = 0.10–0.18) and 12‐month prevalence of ideations
(21.3%; 95% CI = 0.17–0.26) are comparable to estimates found in both high‐income
and low‐ and middle‐income countries. However, associations between the demographic
variables studied and suicidal behaviour risk were not statistically significant.
