The Presence of Suicidal Thoughts and Their Connection with Social, Family, and Romantic Loneliness among Nurses and Technicians

Abstract

The nursing profession is faced with various challenges, and the work of nurses and technicians has become extremely responsible and demanding. Sometimes such a way of working can have negative consequences on mental health. The goal was to examine the differences in suicidality between nurses/technicians and nursing students, the association of suicidality with sociodemographic variables and loneliness in nursing students and nurses/technicians, and the contribution of variables to suicidality in nurses/technicians and nursing students. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the population of nurses and technicians and nursing students. A total of 144 respondents participated in the online survey conducted in February and March 2023. One hundred and thirteen (78.5%) employed nurses and technicians who are not studying and 31 (21.5%) nursing students participated in the research, the mean age of the respondents was 31.26 (SD=11.62). Sociodemographic data were collected. The presence of suicidal thoughts was tested with the attribute scale of suicidal ideation. Loneliness was tested with the scale of social and emotional loneliness. Results: Significantly higher levels of suicidality were found in nursing students compared to nurses/technicians (Mann-Whitney test; p=0.047). The results showed that in nursing students there is a significant moderate positive association between suicidality and family loneliness (Spearman's correlation; p=0.018) and a moderate negative association with the assessment of financial status (Spearman's correlation; p=0.019). In nurses/technicians, the results showed that suicidality is moderately positively associated with social (Spearman correlations; p<0.001), emotional (Spearman correlations; p=0.001) and family loneliness (Spearman correlations; p<0.001), low negative with age (Spearman's correlation; p=0.022), financial condition (Spearman's correlation; p = 0.014), family relationships (Spearman's correlation; p=0.009) and health condition (Spearman's correlation; p=0.002). It was shown that significant predictors of suicidality in nurses/technicians are assessment of health status (p<0.001) and social loneliness (p=0.002), while significant predictors of suicidality in nursing students are assessment of health status (p=0.015), level of education (p= 0.025) and family loneliness (p=0.010). Conclusion: This research confirmed that the population of nurses/technicians and nursing students is at risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior. It has been shown that the state of health, family and social loneliness, and poorer financial conditions are significant factors that contribute to suicidality. Considering the somewhat higher presence of suicidality in nursing students, it is necessary to design an educational approach with special emphasis on early recognition of suicidality and providing adequate help.