Chronic Health Conditions And Risk Of Suicidal Behaviors In Two Hospitals In Ghana

ABSTRACT With the high incidence of suicide and its association with varying risk factors, which recently include chronic illness in other countries, it is imperative to examine this association as well in Ghana among chronically ill patients. This will help add to the rich knowledge gathered by researchers in the country in the areas of suicidality and chronicity. The study therefore focused on finding out if a relationship exists between chronic health conditions and risk of suicidal behaviors in Ghana. The study employed a sequential explanatory mixedmethod. Nine participants were sampled from two Hospitals for the qualitative approach. Sixty-nine chronically ill patients were sampled to take part in the quantitative approach which utilized the Suicidal Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ-R), Medical Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5), Brief RCOPE and the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL BREF) Scales. The result of the qualitative approach which was thematically analyzed, showed participants’ personal conceptualization of chronic illnesses, experiences of chronic illness, adherence to medication, chronic conditions and suicidality, health services related challenges and varying coping methods including religion, information and social support. The quantitative study employed Independent t-Test, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Multiple Regression in testing the study’s hypothesis. The results show that patients with chronic health conditions were likely to attempt or idealize suicide (Younger Adults M=12.67, SD; Middle Adult M=4.15, SD=0.99; Older Adults M=4.37, SD=1.82). It was recommended that public health education be intensified by the MOH and health journalists. Also, a collaboration should exist between health workers (psychologists, social workers and mental health workers) in the treatment of chronically ill patients. In addition, there should be in-service training for health workers to enable them adequately address the challenges of chronic patients during treatment.