Building Foundation to Combat Suicide

With global suicide rates on the rise, FAU faculty took a closer look at the reasons for this behavior in Quindío, Columbia, which has one of the highest rates of suicide deaths in the country.

In a study, Ayse Torres, Ph.D., an assistant professor of clinical rehabilitation counseling in the College of Education, sought to understand why it happens in rural Columbia, with the hope of developing a prevention plan. The results, recently published in The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, identified the top three suicide risk factors are suicide ideation — or having thoughts of suicide — followed by, a history of previous suicide attempts and then feeling trapped.

“FAU faculty are reaching out globally to understand the suicide and come up with a suicide prevention plan because we want to share and expand our understanding to help,” Torres said.

low- and middle-income countries, according to data from the World Health Organization. These areas often lack the mental health services and resources for people to get help compared to larger cities, Torres said. “People don’t know who to call or what to do if a friend or loved one says they are suicidal,” she added.

But suicide is complex and the reasons people take their own lives varies by country and culture, Torres said. To come up with a suicide prevention plan, first you need to understand the factors to a person’s risk for attempting suicide, she said. So, she needed to determine the risk factors for suicide behavior in Quindío.

Due to the lack of baseline of data for the region, the team employed the Delphi Technique, a widely used and accepted method for gathering data where there is limited prior research. The Delphi method is a group consensus technique, where experts in a specific area give their opinions through multiple questionnaires.

First, the panelists were asked to rank a list of 10 suicide risk factors, which included: suicide ideation, substance abuse, purposelessness, anger, trapped, hopelessness, withdrawing, anxiety, recklessness, and mood change, as well as the option to write-in an option. Based on statistical analysis from the first round, five factors were eliminated but three more were added, for a total of eight factors, which were then ranked by the panelist.

“The problem in this region is that because there's so many suicidal events, people grow up thinking that it’s one way of exit from pain,” said Torres. “Exposure to suicidal behavior is one unique risk factor in this region.” But, now that Torres and her colleagues know the top risk factors for suicide, they took the first step to develop a regional plan.

“Do police officers know what to do if someone is suicidal? Do mental health counselors?” she asked. “That’s why this research is foundational, and we know we need to help the region understand suicide, suicide risk factors and train the people, the public, the teachers, the police officers, the local government.”