Suicidal behavior in black South Africans

In the past suicidal behavior among Black South Africans has been largely underresearched. Earlier studies among the other main ethnic groups in the country showed suicidal behavior in those groups to be a serious problem. This article briefly reviews some of the more recent research on suicidal behavior in Black South Africans. The results indicate an apparent increase in suicidal behavior in this group. Several explanations are offered for the change in suicidal behavior in the reported clinical populations. This includes past difficulties for all South Africans to access health care facilities in the Apartheid (legal racial separation) era, and present difficulties of post-Apartheid transformation the South African society is undergoing, as the people struggle to come to terms with the deleterious effects of the former South African racial policies, related socio-cultural, socio-economic, and other pressures.     

Suicidal behavior in patients with adjustment disorders

This retrospective study characterizes the suicidal behavior in 119 patients with Axis I adjustment disorders as assessed by psychiatrists at the University of Virginia Hospital. Results indicated that 72 patients (60.5%) had documented suicide attempts in the past, 96% had been suicidal during their admission to the hospital, and 50% had attempted suicide before their hospitalization. The most commonly used method of suicide attempts was overdosing. Of the sample group with suicide attempts in the past, 67% had Axis II diagnoses of borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Adjustment disorder diagnosis in patients with the suicide attempts was associated with a high level of suicidality at admission, involuntary hospitalization and substance-abuse disorders. Axis II diagnoses in patients with adjustment disorders constituted risk factors for further suicidal behavior. Additional future prospective studies with reliability checks on diagnosis of adjustment disorders and suicidal behavior are needed.     

Suicidal behavior in a young offender population

Young offenders have numerous problems, including increased psychopathology, housing, and psycho-social stresses and increased rates of substance abuse. The current study investigated the contribution that substance use might make to a particularly vulnerable group of young people. Of the 300 young people approached for the study, 23.7% reported a prior suicide attempt. For this group, the most significant predictors of a prior suicide attempt were negative affect, prior exposure to violence, and housing stress. Life-time substance-use variables were most predictive of the number of suicide attempts a young person might make. Self-reported lethality (the expectation that on the last attempt the young person expected to die) was not strongly predicted by any variable. The research identifies the important role that dynamic risk factors (such as mood, substance use, and psychosocial stressors) play in increasing the risk of self-harm for young offenders, and raises the need to provide for more comprehensive discharge planning and support in order to manage these needs.     

Suicidal behavior in the Ukraine, 1988-1998

This report studies the available data concerning suicide rates in the Ukraine and points to the importance of appropriate monitoring of suicides and attempted suicides. It illustrates the necessity of collecting this information and of developing "The Ukrainian National Program on Suicide Prevention." Unfortunately, suicide research and publications about suicide rates were prohibited in the former Soviet Union, so some of the data about suicidal behavior in the Ukraine is incomplete. We used the official suicide death statistics of the Ukraine from the Center of Statistics (Ukrainian Ministry of Health) for the period 1988-1998. The overall rate of suicide in the Ukraine is relatively high. Official statistics in the Ukraine show that there were 29.6 suicides per 100,000 population in 1998. The frequency of completed suicide differs in the various regions of the country, suicides being more frequent in the industrially developed regions and in the rural areas of the country than in the cities. In the western part of the Ukraine the frequency of suicide is relatively low (11.1 per 100,000). Between 1988 and 1997 the suicide rate increased by 57%. In 1998 the suicide rate for women was approximately five times lower than that for men.     

Suicidal behavior in patients diagnosed with cancer of the cervix

There is a paucity of literature on suicide and cancer, especially cancer of the cervix. This study reports on suicidal behavior in these patients. The sample consisted of adult, black, Zulu-speaking women from palliative and radical oncology treatment groups who volunteered for the study. There were more patients in the palliative group who were younger, and had a more significant delay between cancer symptom presentation and seeking oncology treatment. Patients experienced: significant depression, anxiety, stress, hopelessness/helplessness, anxious preoccupation about their disease, poor current or delayed social support, feelings of being a burden to their significant others, beliefs that they would be better off dead, perceptions that they were stigmatized by society or that their communities suspected them of being HIV-AIDS positive, and suppressed anger. More patients in the palliative, compared to the radical treatment, group were inclined toward suicidal ideation with serious intent. Overall, most patients coped inadequately with their disease and its management. These patients are a high risk group for suicidal behavior and should be identified in time for appropriate psychological intervention.     

Suicidal behavior by burns among adolescents in Kurdistan, Iran: a social tragedy

The aim of this study was to identify the epidemiologic features and current etiological factors of suicidal behavior by burns among adolescents in Kurdistan, Iran. A prospective population-based study was carried out on patients with suicidal behaviors by burns requiring hospitalization among adolescents during 2000-2001 in Kurdistan, Iran. Sociodemographic and etiological factors were obtained through interviews with each patient or with family, relatives, or friends of the patient. Of 54 hospitalized burn patients aged 13-19 years, 40 (74.1%) patients were hospitalized because of suicidal behaviors by burns (6 males and 34 females). The incidence rate of these behaviors was 18.1 per 100,000 person-years (P-Y) and varied by gender (the incidence rates for females and males were 31.6 and 5.3 per 100,000 P-Y, respectively, p(2) = .000004). Most of the patients (60%) were single, 70% were homemakers, and 60% were either illiterate or had a low level of education. The most common precipitating factors for suicidal behaviors by burns were a quarrel with a family member or relative (47.5%) and marital conflict (17.5%). Most of the patients who were able to communicate regretted their suicidal behaviors (85.7%). Adolescents in Kurdistan are at higher risk of suicidal behaviors by burns compared to adolescents in other areas of Iran. Factors likely to be associated with suicidal behaviors by burns include lower socioeconomic status and family problems. These factors should be investigated further to better elucidate the etiology of these events. It also is necessary to implement prevention programs and strategies known to be effective to reduce the incidence of suicide in this region.     

Suicidal behavior as communication in a cultural context: a comparative study between Uganda and Norway

In this study, we attempt to even out some of the imbalance in suicide research caused by the fact that most such research has been conducted in the Western part of the world with the corresponding common disregard of the potential problems in generalizing findings to different cultural settings. Our point of departure was to look at suicidal behavior as communication and our main purpose was to investigate whether Qvortrup's semiotic four-factor model, which has been empirically supported in the West, would be applicable in an African context, exemplified by Uganda. Interviews of patients admitted to hospital following an act of nonfatal suicidal behavior were conducted in Uganda and Norway and the data were compared. The results showed that the four-factor structure found in the West was not applicable in the Ugandan context, but that two by two of these factors were collapsed into a two-factor model in Uganda: One factor regarding the external dialog and one factor regarding the internal dialog. Some differences and some similarities were found between Norway and Uganda when suicidal behavior was considered as a communicative act. The results are discussed in terms of the differences in the psychological characteristics of the suicidal persons in the two countries, as well as the different cultural settings of the study.     

Suicidal ideation in Pakistani college students

Suicidal behavior includes ideation, attempts and completed suicides. Information on suicidal behavior from Pakistan, a conservative South Asian Islamic country, is lacking. To address the issue, a pilot study was carried out to assess the prevalence of suicidal ideation in Pakistani college students. Suicidal ideation was assessed on the basis of responses to four questions contained in the depression subscale of the General Health Questionnaire-28. Of the total 217 completed questionnaires, the overall rate of suicidal ideation was 31.4%. While there was no significant difference between genders, more females (33%) than males (29.2%) responded positively. Respondents belonging to single parent families and those living at home, compared to those using hostel facilities, reported higher rates. The reported rate in our sample is higher than similar studies conducted elsewhere. There is the need for more information in this important area of suicidal behavior, including studying such feelings in school going children as well as in a larger community sample. The findings of such studies can contribute to our understanding of the suicidal process in the Pakistani population and to address it at various levels.     

Suicidal ideation and self-determination in institutionalized elderly

The right to self-determination is central to the current debate on rational suicide in old age. The goal of this exploratory study was to assess the presence of self-determination in suicidal institutionalized elderly persons. Eleven elderly persons with serious suicidal ideations were matched according to age, sex, and civil status with 11 nonsuicidal persons. The results indicated that suicidal persons did not differ from nonsuicidal persons in level of self-determination. There was, however, a significant difference between groups on the social subscale. Suicidal elderly persons did not seem to take others into account when making a decision or taking action. The results are discussed from a suicide-prevention perspective.     

Suicidal intent in single-car accident drivers: Review and new preliminary findings

This study addressed the issue of a possible link between single-car accident drivers and suicidal intent. In the international literature this topic has generated both positive and negative results. Some authors have stressed unconscious suicidal motivations in various single accidents. Nevertheless, refutation of such theory was demonstrated through experimental studies. We selected 30 single-car accident drivers who had been admitted to emergency departments and then hospitalized for an average period of 10 days. We administered the Reason for Living Inventory (RFL) and investigated their attitudes toward suicide. We also matched these patients with a control group of drivers who had never had a car accident. Results showed that single-car accident drivers were not exposed to a higher overall suicidal risk, though they reported a higher risk on the RFL Survival and Coping Beliefs subscale and often expressed tiredness of being alive. These patients had experienced more life events than controls. We conclude that, although suicide risk was low in our patients, they were engaged in looking for a solution to their problems in which the accident played a role in such a process. This behavior has some characteristics of the logic of suicidal individuals.     

Deregulation and the decline of public administration teaching in the UK

In 1991 eight polytechnics offered a BA in public administration while five universities provided the degree with either public or social policy. Currently, no higher education institution in Britain offers a BA degree solely entitled 'public administration'. The subject area is, however, offered in 16 higher education institutions under a variety of names that include, in any order, the words 'public', 'management', 'policy' and 'administration'. This paper analyses the reasons for the transformation during the 1990s in undergraduate courses for the public sector. It is argued that these changes do not so much derive from academics, employers or students taking on board an enthusiasm for new public management but are as much the consequences of deregulation of student choice and an expansion in student numbers that has not been matched in financial terms. The consequence has been to increasingly move this sector towards business and management teaching geared to private sector interests and away from its more political and social science roots.     

Exploring the E-Government Gap in South America

Abstract

The transition to an information society requires the implementation of effective actions by the different actors of the new society and economy. The private sector has already started to get involved. It is now public administration’s turn, and, although far behind the business world, it has been provided with an important tool: the electronic government model.

Although several projects have been carried out all over the globe, the development of such initiatives is very much unequal, depending on not only the region of the world but also varying from country to country within each region. Thus, while countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, Singapore, Australia, and Canada are the leaders when it comes to implementing electronic government programs, the same cannot be said about most Latin American nations.

It is the intention of this article to address this unequal situation, which will be called the e-government divide, emphasizing the global and the regional e-government gaps.     

英国社区矫正制度评析

英国是社区矫正制度的发源地之一,具有较为完备的社区矫正法律和制度。在其“重罪重刑,轻罪轻刑”思想的指导下,英国制定了种类繁多的社区矫正措施,并由专门机构和人员进行适用。英国社区矫正制度体现了人道性、谦抑性、个别化和前瞻性的鲜明特点。我国应该借鉴英国的社区矫正制度,出台社区矫正法,细化社区矫正措施,建立社区矫正机关,创建我国的社区矫正制度。