Suicide is a reality in South Africa that can be confirmed by the increasing statistics annually.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) also shows increasing numbers of suicide. However, these numbers only focus on successful suicides and little is known about the suicidal ideation of
members within the service. It now seems that only the tip of the iceberg is causing panic.
although the problem might be much bigger than originally thought.
In this research the emphasis will be on possible correlations between coping sense of coherence and job satisfaction on the one hand and suicidal ideation on the other hand within the SAPS in the North West Province. If correlations between coping: sense of coherence, job satisfaction and
suicidal ideation can be found, it can be of great significance for the SAPS, especially in terms of recruitments, selection, development and management of human recourses.
The objective of this research is to determine if there is a relationship between coping sense of coherence, job satisfaction and suicidal ideation among police personnel. The focus of the
literature was on the conceptualising of suicidal ideation and if suicidal ideation can be linked to construct such as coping, sense of coherence and job satisfaction.
The research is quantitative in nature and entails a survey design. The population consisted of
120 police personnel in the North West Province, of which all were ranked between constable to inspector. Four measuring instruments were used, namely the Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Sense of Coherence Questionnaire and the ways of Coping Questionnaire. The SAS-program was used for statistical analysis purposes. Descriptive statistics, t-test, product moment correlations and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the results.
Police personnel indicated dissatisfaction with regard to the remuneration that they receive, as well as physical working conditions, supervision-human and company policy. They use coping styles such as seeking social support, planful problem-solving as well as positive reappraisal. Black police members showed to be more suicidal than white members. The empirical study showed that dissatisfaction with specific aspects of their work and sense of coherence could predict suicidal ideation.
Recommendations for future research are made in the conclusion. / Thesis (M.A.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2000.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/1571 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Strijdom, Gerrit Roelof Johannes |
| Publisher | Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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