Nurses with suicidal ideation are less likely to seek help. We need to change that.
The original research article in AJN‘s November issue should prompt concern among the nursing and broader health care community. The article, “Suicidal Ideation and Attitudes Toward Help Seeking in US Nurses Relative to the General Population,” describes the results of a survey sent to nearly 87,000 members of the American Nurses Association (ANA) in late 2017. It provides essential pre-pandemic data which can serve as a post-pandemic baseline going forward.
Higher prevalence of suicidal ideation in nurses.
Of the 7,378 nurses who responded (over 47% were hospital based), 5.5% reported suicidal thoughts over the prior year. Over 43% “screened positive for depression symptoms.” When researchers compared nurses with almost 5,200 age-matched other types of workers, the prevalence of suicidal ideation was 5.8% for nurses, compared to 4.3% for other U.S. workers.
Perhaps of greatest concern is that while most nurses (85%) indicated they would seek help for emotional problems, of those reporting having had suicidal ideation, 72.6% said that they would “probably or definitely” seek help. According to the authors, this is similar to results from studies of physicians and medical students.
As caregivers, we often ignore our own needs and focus on those of others. But that takes its toll, as we’ve seen from previous studies and from the many stories we’ve heard from colleagues during this pandemic.
An urgent need for interventions at the practice and systems levels.
Given the current situation, say the authors in their conclusions:
“Our findings demonstrate that these issues warrant urgent attention. Systems- and practice-level interventions must be identified and implemented, both to address the higher prevalences of burnout and suicidal ideation in nurses and to mitigate stigma about mental health problems and other barriers to seeking help.”
This article is free on our website while the current issue is featured; there’s also a video abstract by lead author Elizabeth Kelsey. Other journal offerings (free until 11/18) addressing nurses’ mental health include:
Comments are moderated before approval, but always welcome.