Factors Associated with Thoughts of Self-Harm or Suicide among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Presenting to Urban Primary Care: An Analysis of De-Identified Clinical Data
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Schluter, PJ
Spurling, GK
Tyson, C
Hayman, NE
Askew, DA
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Abstract
Suicide amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is a major cause of prema-ture mortality and a significant contributor to the health and life expectancy gap. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of thoughts of self-harm or suicide in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people attending an urban primary health care service and identify factors associated with these thoughts. Multilevel mixed-effects modified Poisson regression models were employed to an-alyse three years of data gathered during the annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments. At their first health assessment, 11.5% (191/1664) of people reported thoughts of suicide or self-harm in the prior two weeks. Having children, participating in sport or community activities or being employed full-time decreased the risk of such thoughts. Conversely, factors re-lating to social exclusion including homelessness, drug use, unemployment and job insecurity increased the risk of thoughts of self-harm or suicide. Individual clinicians, health services, and pol-icy-makers all have a role in suicide prevention. Clinicians need appropriate training to be able to respond to people expressing these thoughts. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community or-ganisations need sovereignty and self-determination over resources to provide programs that pro-mote cultural connectivity and address social exclusion, thereby saving lives.
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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
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19
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1
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© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Social work
Sociology of health
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
epidemiological study
primary health care
suicidal ideation
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Pandeya, NA; Schluter, PJ; Spurling, GK; Tyson, C; Hayman, NE; Askew, DA, Factors associated with thoughts of self-harm or suicide among aboriginal and torres strait islander people presenting to urban primary care: An analysis of de-identified clinical data, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022, 19 (1), pp. 153