The Role of Religion on Suicidal Behavior, Attitudes and Psychological Distress in University Students: A Multinational Study

The purpose of this study was to determine the association of religion to suicidal behavior, attitudes and psychological distress in 5572 students from 12 countries by means of a selfreport questionnaire. Our results showed that an affiliation with Islam was associated with reduced risk for suicide ideation, however affiliating with Orthodox Christianity and no religion was related to increased risk for suicide ideation. While affiliating with Buddhism, Catholic religion and no religion associated with lowered risk for attempting suicide, affiliation with Islam was related to heightened risk for attempting suicide. Affiliation with Hinduism, Orthodox Christianity, Protestantism, Catholicism, other religions and with no religion was associated with decreased risk for psychological distress but those reported affiliating with Islam evinced greater risk for psychological distress. The associations of the strength of religious belief to suicidal ideation and attempts were in the expected direction for most but it had a positive relation in respondents affiliating with Catholicism and other religions. Students reporting affiliation with Islam, Orthodox religion and Buddhism were the least accepting of suicide but they displayed a more confronting interpersonal style to an imagined peer with a suicidal decision. It was concluded that the protective function of religion in educated segments of populations (university students) and in university students residing in Muslim countries where freedom from religion is restricted or religion is normative and/or compulsory is likely to be limited. Our findings suggest that public policies supporting religious freedom may augment the protective function of religion against suicide and psychological distress

Farklı sosyal kesimlerde çeşitli turistlere ilişkin kategoriler ve algı repertuvarları

Bu çalışmada, çeşitli sosyal kesimlerde turistlere yönelik algı repertuvarları, turistleri algılamada kullanılan yapılar veya kategoriler araştırılmıştır. Araştırma da sosyal biliş yaklaşımından hareketle, Kelly'nin kişisel yapı kuramı temel olarak alınmıştır. Kelly'nin oluşturduğu Rol Yapısı Repertuvar Testi'nden Potter ve Coshall (1988) tarafından uyarlanmış olan Repertuvar Gridi tekniğine benzer bir teknik kullanmıştır. Öncelikle bir pilot çalışma yapılmış, daha sonra asıl uygulama gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırma da, Kuşadası'nda çeşitli turistlik konaklama tesislerinde çalışan personel ve çeşitli turistlik ticari işletmelerde çalışan kişiler örneklem olarak alınmıştır. Örneklem, pilot çalışmada 70, asıl uygulamada 214 kişi olmak üzere toplam 284 kişiden oluşmuştur. Uygulama sonucunda, sosyal psikolojik verilerin yanı sıra turizm alanındaki bazı sorunların çözümüne ışık tutacağı düşünülen bazı pratik sonuçlar da elde edilmiştir

Factors related to regular use of complementary/alternative medicine in Turkey

WOS: 000272925200009PubMed ID: 19942111Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of regular complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) use and to investigate the relations between some of the psychosocial and health related factors and the regular use of any CAM method. Method: Nine hundred and eighty-eight adults whose ages ranged from 18 to 80 were surveyed in Izmir, Turkey. Participants were grouped as "regular CAM users" (n=404), "irregular CAM users" (n = 445) and "non-users" (n = 139). Results: Praying was the most frequently used CAM method (76%) among regular CAM users. Results of logistic regression analysis revealed that the variables significantly related with the regular CAM use were perceived effectiveness of the CAM method used in the past, attitudes towards CAM, having information about CAM methods, health awareness and educational status. Conclusions: Participants who positively perceived the effects of the CAM method they had practised, have positive attitudes towards CAM, have higher health awareness, have more information about the CAM methods and have primary school degree were more likely to be a regular user of CAM. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Mersin UniversityMersin University; Unit of Scientific Research [BAP-FEF PB (AA) 2004-3]This study is a part of project funded by Mersin University, the Unit of Scientific Research (project number: BAP-FEF PB (AA) 2004-3)

SUMMARY: Teaching Empathy in Medical Education Türk Psikiyatri Dergisi 2005; 16(2) Turkish Journal of Psychiatry Teaching Empathy in Medical Education

Objectives: To determine whether there is any difference in empathic tendencies and attitudes towards communication in medical practice among the first-year students of Adnan Menderes University Medical School, and to determine the effect of education and the relation between these two features. Method: The Empathic Tendency Scale and Attitudes Towards Communication in Medical Practice Questionnaire were used to collect data from 36 (55.3 % of the total) students (65.7 % female; mean age: 18.3). Results: Students are clustered into two groups for both scales using K-means analysis, which was used to see whether the students were homogeneous regarding empathy and communication attitudes at the beginning of the teaching period. According to the Empathic Tendency Scale results 25% of students have a high empathic tendency (HET) and 75% have a low empathic tendency (LET) and the results of the Attitudes Towards Communication in Medical Practice Questionnaire indicated that 56% have positive and 44% have negative attitudes towards communication. However, the difference between the pre-and post-teaching results of either group seems to show a tendency towards change (p< 0.10). The change has a negative and a positive tendency in the HET and LET groups, respectively. Conclusion: Our results seem to verify the predicted differences among the students in their empathic tendencies and attitudes towards communication in medical practice. It seems that empathic tendency is more likely to be changed by an appropriate teaching technique when change within the groups is concerned

Cultural and interpersonal risk factors for suicide ideation and suicide attempts among Muslim college students from 11 nations

Background: Research on suicidality in low to middle-income countries is scarce. We addressed this issue by investigating suicidality in a cross-national college student samples from 11 predominantly low to middle-income majority Muslim countries.Methods: The sample consisted of 7427 college students (56% female) who reported to be affiliated with Islam. Data on self-construal, social support, negative life-events, acceptability of suicide, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts were collected with self-administered questionnaires.Results: Acceptability of suicide and the experience of negative life-events were positively, and perceived social support was negatively associated with suicidal ideation. Interdependent self-construal was negatively related to the acceptability of suicide and positively associated with perceived social support, implying a negative indirect effect on suicidal ideation although its direct effect was positive. The number of negative life-events was the strongest positive predictor of ever attempting suicide. The interdependent self-construal moderated the association of negative life-events with suicide attempts.Limitations: Cross-sectional and self-report nature of the study were its major limitations. Participants may have suppressed their responses about suicide because of religious and legal reasons.Conclusion: Remarkable similarities across 11 country samples emerged in the linkages between cultural and interpersonal factors with suicidality. Our findings highlight the value of a nuanced approach to suicidality, that can recognize the differences in the processes associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, as well as the need to consider the interplay of a broad range of personal, interpersonal, and cultural influences

Associations of religiosity, attitudes towards suicide and religious coping with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in 11 muslim countries

Objective: The study investigated the associations of religiosity, religious coping and suicide acceptance to suicide ideation and attempts in 7427 young adults affiliating with Islam from 11 Muslim countries.Method: A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. We used F and χ2 tests and correlation analyses to report descriptive statistics. Multi-group path models with (i) a zero-inflated Poisson distribution and, (ii) a Binomial distribution were used to model the number of occurrences of suicidal ideation, and occurrence of a suicide attempt, respectively.Results: Religiosity was negatively associated with acceptability of suicide, but it was positively related to punishment after death across the 11 countries. Religiosity was negatively associated with ever experiencing suicidal ideation, both directly and indirectly through its association with attitudes towards suicide, especially the belief in acceptability of suicide. Neither positive nor negative religious coping were related to suicidal ideation. However, religiosity was negatively related to suicide attempts among those who experienced suicidal ideation at least once. This association was mediated through the belief in acceptability of suicide and religious coping. Negative religious coping was positively associated with suicide attempts probably because it weakened the protective effects of religiosity.Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that the effects of religiosity in the suicidal process operate through attitudes towards suicide. We therefore conclude that clinical assessment as well as research in suicidology may benefit from paying due attention to attitudes towards suicide