80% meer suïcides in Vlaanderen dan in Nederland

Vlaanderen telt 80% meer suïcides dan Nederland. Toch trekken beide buren op klimatologisch, demografisch en sociaal-economisch vlak erg op elkaar. Waar ligt dan de oorzaak? Bij de andere cultuur en mentaliteit? Of bij de organisatie van de zorg?status: publishe

Verklaringen voor verschillen in regionale suïcidecijfers

Content Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1. The epidemiology of suicide .................................................................................. 2 1.1 Age and gender distribution of suicidal behavior and suicidal ideation ................ 2 1.2 Time trends of suicide ......................................................................................... 4 1.3 Differences between national and intra-national suicide rates ............................ 6 2. Aims and research questions ................................................................................. 8 STUDY 1 - Literature study - Explanations for differences in suicide rates ................... 11 1. The reliability of suicide rates ....................................................................... 12 2. Social integration .......................................................................................... 14 2.1. Socio-economic and political integration ...................................................... 14 2.2. Social fragmentation ..................................................................................... 15 2.3. Religious integration ..................................................................................... 17 3. Suicidal ideation, suicidal behavior and attitudes toward suicide .................. 17 4. Mental health ............................................................................................... 18 5. Availability and use of mental health care ..................................................... 19 6. Mental health policy and suicide prevention policy ...................................... 20 7. Availability of suicide means ......................................................................... 21 8. Genetic factors ............................................................................................. 21 9. Cultural factors ............................................................................................. 22 10. Rural versus urban suicide rates ................................................................... 23 11. Other associations: geographical factors, prevalence of diseases, intelligence and globalization .......................................................................................... 24 12. Conclusions ................................................................................................... 25 STUDY 2 - Paper 1: Reliability of suicide rates ............................................................. 27 STUDY 3 - Paper 2: Human values, socio-economic factors and suicide rates .............. 41 STUDY 4 - Papers 3 - 6: Socio-cognitive factors in relation to help-seeking and suicide ........................................................................................................................ 59 1. Theoretical and conceptual framework ......................................................... 60 1.1. Intentions and attitudes ................................................................................ 61 1.2. Stigma, perceived stigma and self-stigma ..................................................... 61 1.2.1. Self-stigmatization ........................................................................................ 62 xii 1.2.2. Perceived stigma ........................................................................................... 63 1.3. The role of culture ........................................................................................ 64 1.4. Attitudes and stigma in relation to suicide rates ........................................... 65 2. Flanders and the Netherlands: A case study .................................................. 65 2.1. Research design ............................................................................................ 66 2.1.1. Sample .......................................................................................................... 66 2.1.2. Research procedure ...................................................................................... 67 2.2. Research questions ....................................................................................... 69 3. Paper 3 ......................................................................................................... 71 4. Paper 4 ......................................................................................................... 85 5. Paper 5 ......................................................................................................... 97 6. Paper 6 ....................................................................................................... 111 General conclusions and recommendations ............................................................. 125 1. Main results ................................................................................................ 126 2. Limitations .................................................................................................. 129 3. General discussion ...................................................................................... 130 4. Recommendations ...................................................................................... 138 5. Propositions for future research ................................................................. 141 References ............................................................................................................... 143 Professional career ................................................................................................... 161 List of Publications .................................................................................................... 163 Summary .................................................................................................................. 165 Samenvatting ........................................................................................................... 167nrpages: 186status: publishe

Suicide Intervention Skills and Related Factors in Community and Health Professionals

Health and community professionals have considerable exposure to suicidal people and need to be well skilled to deal with them. We assessed suicide intervention skills with a Dutch version of the SIRI in 980 health and community professionals and psychology students. Suicide intervention skills clearly differed among professional groups and were strongly related to experience, especially suicide-specific experience. Some community professionals scored below acceptable levels on their ability to respond appropriately to suicidal people they encounter, and tended to overestimate their skills level. Training is therefore indicated for these groups, and may be useful to more highly experienced groups too

Risicofactoren en beschermende factoren inzake suïcide in Nederland en Vlaanderen

status: publishe

Risicofactoren en beschermende factoren inzake suïcide in Nederland en Vlaanderen

BACKGROUND: The suicide rate is 82% higher in the Flanders region of Belgium than in the Netherlands. AIM: To investigate to what extent Flanders and the Netherlands differ with regard to the risk factors and protective factors relating to suicide and attempted suicide. METHOD: By means of a structured postal questionnaire, we collected data on the following topics from 2999 Flemish and Dutch people between 18 and 64 years: mental well-being and earlier attempts to commit suicide, the help they had received and their intention to seek help for psychological problems, awareness of the mental health care available, satisfaction with the help received, and attitudes to suicide. RESULTS: The incidence of psychological problems and suicidality did not differ significantly between Flanders and the Netherlands. Compared to Flemish people, Dutch people with psychological problems had received more psychological help and more often expressed the intention to seek help in the future. Furthermore, the Dutch were better informed about mental health care, and patient satisfaction was higher in the Netherlands. Compared to the Flemish people, the Dutch had more positive and understanding attitude to suicide. CONCLUSION: In general, risk factors for suicide were similar in the Netherlands and Flanders. However, the Dutch were characterised by more protective factors. We attempt to explain these differences and suggest ways of improving suicidal prevention policy.status: publishe

Attitudes and stigma in relation to help-seeking intentions for psychological problems in low and high suicide rate regions

Accessibility and availability of mental health care services are necessary but not sufficient for people to seek help for psychological problems. Attitudes and stigma related to help seeking also determine help seeking intentions. The aim of this study is to investigate how cross-national differences in attitudes and stigma within the general population are related to professional and informal help seeking intentions in low and high suicide rate regions.status: publishe

Stigma, Attitudes, and Help-Seeking Intentions for Psychological Problems in Relation to Regional Suicide Rates

In this ecological study, we investigated whether help-seeking related to stigma, intentions, and attitudes toward suicide are associated with the suicide rates of 20 regions within the Netherlands and Belgium. Significant associations were found between regional suicide rates and the intention to seek informal help (β = -1.47, p = .001), self-stigma (β = 1.33, p = .038), and shame (β = .71, p = .030). The association between self-stigma and suicide rate was mediated by intentions to seek informal help. These results suggest that to promote suicide prevention at the level of the regional population, stigma, shame, and intentions to seek help should be targeted in the public domain.status: publishe

Help-seeking, stigma and attitudes of people with and without a suicidal past. A comparison between a low and a high suicide rate country

A significant proportion of suicidal persons do not seek help for their psychological problems. Psychological help-seeking is assumed to be a protective factor for suicide. However, different studies showed that negative attitudes and stigma related to help-seeking are major barriers to psychological help-seeking. These attitudes and stigma are not merely individual characteristics but they are also developed by and within society. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we investigate if persons with a suicidal past differ from people without a suicidal past with respect to help-seeking intentions, attitudes toward help-seeking, stigma and attitudes toward suicide. The second aim is to investigate if these attitudinal factors differ between people living in two regions with similar socio-economic characteristics but deviating suicide rates.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Help-seeking, stigma and attitudes of people with and without a suicidal past. A comparison between a low and a high suicide rate country journaltitle: Journal of Affective Disorders articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2015.02.013 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.status: publishe

Centraliteit, cohesie en structurele equivalentie als verklarende variabelen voor de nauwkeurigheid van de perceptie van informele netwerken /

Thesis ingediend tot het behalen van de graad van licentiaat in de politieke en sociale wetenschappen, optie sociologi