International Journal of Recent Advances in Psychology & Psychotherapy [ISSN: 2581-4052]

An Examination of Suicide Rates in Jamaica, 2000-to-2019: Time-series Analyses

Paul Andrew Bourne — 2022-07-20

Introduction: According to the World Health Organization, there are 700 000 deaths from suicide each year. For every suicide, there are 20 unsuccessful attempts, meaning more people attempt suicide than those who die. The number one risk for suicide is prior attempts. Globally, suicide is the number one cause of death among 15 to 19-year-olds. Approximately 77% of global suicides occur in low to middle-income countries.

Objective: This study examined the trends of suicide rates in Jamaica from 2000-2019.

Materials and methods: Time series data were used to provide the analyses for this study. Twenty years of data were collected from the World Bank Data Portal, showing the total sum of suicides during the two decades (2000-2019), and the suicide rates among males and females. Excel served as the tool for the data collection, followed by data into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 28.0 for further analysis.

Findings: There is a positive association between male and female rates of suicide. As the rate among males increased, so did the rate for females. However, the incidence for males increased at a higher rate than for females during the 20 years.

Discussion: It is essential to continue to explore the comprehensive data to understand the impact of suicide among the Jamaican population over time. In this current study, the results confirm that in our convenience sample, males had a higher rate of suicide compared to females, with females increasing at a slower rate during the 20 years.

Conclusion: Males continue to be impacted at a higher rate than females and double the rate during some years for suicide. It will be necessary for Jamaican leaders to consider the most recent recommendations from WHO with structured monitoring to examine whether or not the interventions positively influence the current suicide trends among the Jamaican population over time.

Assessing Depression in Jamaican Males: Post-COVID-19

Paul Andrew Bourne — 2022-07-20

Depression is a common mental illness and a major cause of disability across the globe. The World Health Organization indicated that it affects approximately 3.8% of the world’s population, which accounts for 280 million persons, 5% of the adult population and 5.7% of the elderly population. Although treatment of depression is lower for males than females because of their healthcare hesitancy, depression is still a female phenomenon. For males, depression rates are quite lower in comparison to females. The main objectives of this study are to: 1) use the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) to assess the level of depression in Jamaican Males post-COVID-19, and 2) determine the rate of suicide among Jamaican males using the Hamilton depression rating scale.

A national cross-sectional web-based study design and a standardized web-based questionnaire designed by Dr Max Hamilton were used for this study. The sample size was determined based on Jamaica's male population for 2018 (i.e., 985,611 males 18+ years old), with a 3% margin of error, and a 95% confidence level. The study employed a stratified multistage probability sampling design to retrieve data from thousand, sixty-six (1066) male respondents from all the parishes in Jamaica. This study revealed that 52.7% of Jamaican males experienced varying degrees of depression post-COVID-19. Furthermore, also found that 1.1% of the sampled Jamaican males have attempted suicide, 3.4% have had suicidal thoughts, 5.1% wished they were dead, and 24.6% feel life is not worth living. The study has brought a preview of the mental health challenges experienced by Jamaican males, and this speaks to a silent killer that is been nurtured in the minds of these individuals. COVID-19 continues to linger with people and mental health conditions that it has created have a short-to-long-term effect on Jamaican men.