8 in 10 Persons Associate Suicide with Stigma, Singapore’s first national survey on suicide finds & More News Here

Singapore, 9 May 2022 (Monday) – More than 8 in 10 Singaporeans affiliate suicide with stigma and just one in each three Singaporeans “will do something to help” somebody who shares private ideas of suicide. Less than 1 in 10 suppose the effectiveness of assist in Singapore for an individual dealing with a disaster and occupied with or affected by suicide, is excessive. A research carried out by the Singapore Management University (SMU) revealed these perceptions of suicide in a metropolis recognized for its cosmopolitan vibrancy, prime quality of life and educated workforce.

With the Samaritans of Singapore (S.O.S.) as her supporting companion, SMU Principal Lecturer of Statistics, Rosie Ching, created and carried out the nation-wide research, named “Save.Me.” with her 62 college students in January and February this yr, interviewing 2,960 folks throughout Singapore, on the subject of suicide. Ms. Ching and her college students carried out the surveys by face-to-face interviews, phone calls and Zoom. The survey outcomes can be found at www.screeningstatistics.com/saveme.

Save.Me. delved into data ranges of indicators of suicide, beliefs propagated about suicide, their most popular platforms for reaching out for assist, the extent of assist out there to folks in disaster, and the efficacy of such assist channels. It adhered intently to the demographics of Singapore with regard to gender, race, age and located that greater than 8 in 10 (83%) in Singapore consider in the existence of stigma related with suicide. Those with no connection to suicide have a considerably extra destructive perspective in direction of suicide than these with instant household who tried or took their lives and people with associates who did the identical.

Overall, greater than 3 in 4 Singaporeans (77%) fee their stage of data about suicide as under common. People with extra intimate connections to suicide (from instant household to kin to associates) cite “No outreach or education” as the highest cause for his or her low data ranges. For everybody who would keep away from somebody suicidal or in a disaster, greater than 70% say it’s their concern of constructing the affected particular person worse, their lack of capacity to do something, and their lack of expertise.

The most excellent fantasy believed by Singaporeans is that that speaking about suicide could give somebody the thought. People with instant household related to suicide kind the very best proportion who consider this, at 70%.

Less than 1 in 10 suppose extremely of the effectiveness of assist in Singapore for an individual dealing with a disaster and occupied with or affected by suicide, with the general effectiveness of such assist in Singapore rated as considerably decrease than common by all profiles of respondents.  

Commented Mr Gasper Tan, Chief Executive, Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), “The results from the survey confirms what many of our mental health experts are saying: there is an unprecedented mental health crisis in our country, accentuated by the pandemic. Over the last two years, SOS has seen an increase of 89% in at-risk individuals seeking support. As a community, we must continue to galvanise our resources to strengthen and transform our health care ecosystem to address mental health and suicide holistically and accessibly.”

According to Professor Lieven Demeester, Associate Provost (Teaching and Learning Innovation) at SMU, “It is great that SMU’s collaboration with SOS, has yielded such valuable insights that may be usefully applied towards more effective prevention of suicide.”

The older an individual, the extra he believes in the unpredictability of suicides. Yet total, greater than 9 in 10 (92%) consider that suicide may be prevented. The youthful an individual, the upper the proportion who consider suicide may be prevented: Gen Z (93.3%) to Millennials (93%) to Gen X (90%) to Baby-Boomers (84%). The extra years of schooling, the larger the proportion who consider suicide may be predicted and prevented as nicely, with the very best at 96% of these with postgraduate schooling.

Said Ms. Ching, “The memory of three special individuals lost to suicide drew me to this realm of suicide. As I learnt from SOS, each of them only wanted the pain, not their life, to stop, but they saw no way out. It is to each of their memories I dedicate every tear shed in Save.Me. I know those whom I have lost would want anyone in crisis to be pulled from the brink, that their pain be addressed, that everyone may know where, how to seek help and support. So that healing may begin.”

Key Findings:

1. More than 8 in 10 (82.87%) consider in existence of stigma related with suicide in Singapore. All profiles present sturdy majorities who consider in the stigma of suicide in Singapore.
2. Only one in each three Singaporeans ”will do one thing to assist(*10*) is the highest most instant and efficient motion, adopted by a reasonably distant second-placed “Encourage professional support, e.g. mental health counsellors”. Together they kind virtually 3 in 4 of Singaporeans’ responses to somebody in a disaster. Only a few third (33%) would encourage skilled assist.
3. For each two in three individuals who wouldn’t assist and save somebody who’s in a disaster or suicidal, greater than 70% say it’s their concern of constructing the suicidal particular person worse, their lack of capacity to do something, and their lack of expertise.
4. Almost 3 in 4 of individuals with no connection to suicide consider suicide may be predicted. The older a person, the extra he doesn’t consider suicide may be predicted. The larger the years of schooling, the larger the assumption that suicide may be predicted as nicely, from about 3 in 10 for these with no schooling, rising to greater than 7 in 10 for these with at the very least a bachelor’s diploma.
5. More than 9 in 10 (92%) consider that suicide may be prevented. The youthful an individual, the upper the proportion who consider suicide may be prevented: Gen Z (93.3%) to Millennials (93%) to Gen X (90%) to Baby-Boomers (84%). The extra years of schooling, the larger the proportion who consider suicide may be prevented, with the very best at virtually 10 in 10 (96%) of these with postgraduate schooling.
6. Preferred sharing platforms: Overall, 6 in each 10 select “Physical, F2F” as their most snug platform to speak to somebody about their issues. Second place of textual content messaging goes for Gen Z and Millennials, however not so for Gen X and Baby-boomers, preferring the phone or a hotline. Statistically, textual content messaging to Gen Z and Millennials is what the phone or a hotline is to Baby-boomers.
7. Across all age bands, “a friend” is the particular person they are going to almost certainly flip to about issues. Amongst all age teams, solely 6.35% select a educated counsellor, with Gen X essentially the most open to them at 9.47%.
8. 67.43% can be extra keen to speak to somebody about their issues if their identification have been nameless, a standard thread throughout genders, ages, races, religions, professions, instructional {qualifications}.
9. Effectiveness of assist: Less than 1 in 10 suppose the effectiveness of assist in Singapore for an individual dealing with a disaster and occupied with or affected by suicide, is excessive. In reality, 74% total fee the effectiveness of such assist in Singapore as considerably decrease than common. This low ranking stretches throughout all profiles related to suicide.