The incidence of suicide attempts and completions during academically gifted students' attendance at state-supported, residential high schools was the subject of this study. School personnel's perceptions of this environment, roles in identifying students at-risk for attempting suicide, and knowledge about suicide were also studied. Five schools participated in this study. Initial interviews were conducted with each school's director, measuring the incidence of suicide utilizing an adaptation of a survey developed by M. Hayes and R. Sloat (1990). Questionnaires distributed to personnel included questions about knowledge about the school's history concerning suicide, perceptions of the environment, and knowledge about suicide. The adaptation of Hayes and Stoat's survey was included in questionnaire materials, along with the School-Level Environment Questionnaire (Rentoul & Fraser, 1983) and 11 true/false statements measuring knowledge of suicide. A total of 83 questionnaires were completed. Telephone interviews were conducted with a random sample of 21 personnel who completed the questionnaire. These interviews consisted of open-ended questions measuring the environment of these schools and perceived roles of personnel in identifying students at-risk for suicide. Descriptive and qualitative analyses were conducted. Ten attempts and two completions occurred among 4899 students. Suicide attempts and completions were measured to be .20% and .04% respectively. These findings indicate that these schools need to be prepared in order to prevent suicide among this population. The environment of these schools was one of affiliation, autonomy, and innovativeness. However, affiliation predominately existed within specific departments and/or divisions. Personnel characterized their roles in suicide prevention as unofficial because of lack of time, academic priorities, and other individuals who were better equipped to respond to students. Even though personnel considered their roles unofficial, they attempted to meet students' emotional needs through support, observation, and involvement. Knowledge of suicide was observed in the areas of incidence of suicide among adolescents, importance of warning signs, factors increasing risk, and need for intervention. Respondents were less knowledgeable about the rate of suicide among adolescents, factors not increasing risk, and myths about suicide. / Department of Educational Psychology
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/176533 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Gust, Karyn L. |
| Contributors | Cross, Tracy L. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | viii, 189 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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