Title : Factors that contribute to attempted suicide among students in the Mafikeng area of North West province
Abstract:
Mental Health is regarded as an essential component of health by WHO (Kulsum and Afsar, 2015: 1713). Suicide ideation and suicidal behaviours which is the topic to be researched in this study are common in the youth population especially students as stated by Wang, 2013: 4). It was observed that high levels of depression, suicidal ideation and hopelessness made participants to be vulnerable and engage in suicide attempt (Butler and Malone, 2013; 324). The researcher observed that since 2009 there was a trend of attempted suicide by students in the Mafikeng area, mostly females between ages of 18 and 25 years. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe factors that contribute to attempted suicide among students in the Mafikeng area of North West Province. The objectives of the study were to explore and describe the factors in order to make recommendations for supporting the students at these institutions in coping with such stressors that may lead them to commit suicide. The study was qualitative, descriptive and explorative in order to explore and describe these factors from the participants. A purposeful sample was drawn from the students who attempted suicide in the Mafikeng area. Data was collected by means of in-depth individual interviews. Data analysis was done according to Tesch’s content analysis method. Recommendations were made based on the results of the study.
