| Summary: | Student Number : 0318213N -
MCCP research report -
School of Psychology -
Faculty of Humanities === The following study aimed to assess coping strategies in adolescents following a
suicide prevention program conducted by the South African Depression and Anxiety
Group. The study aimed to assess whether there was a change in coping strategies in
adolescents following the suicide prevention program. Suicide ideation was measured
using the Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation Scale (PANSI) and Coping
Strategies was measured using the Coping Across Situations Questionnaire (CASQ).
Data was collected on 74 individuals in Grade 11 (26 males and 48 females). It was
found that positive suicide ideation was not significantly different for males and
females before the intervention, while females scored higher than males on the
negative suicide ideation scale, indicating that females have more thoughts about
suicide than males. There was no significant difference between positive and
negative suicide ideation scores for both females and males following the suicide
prevention program. The results further indicate that Active Coping; Internal Coping
and Withdrawal Coping were not significantly different for boys and girls in the pretest,
as well as in the post test. A negative relationship appears to exist between post
PANSI negative ideation and Active Coping, which means that individuals who use
more active coping have fewer thoughts about suicide. Active Coping is strongly
related to Internal Coping and moderately related to Withdrawal Coping. Also,
Internal coping is moderately related to Withdrawal Coping. The implications are that
caregivers and professionals can begin to assess individual adolescent suicide ideation
levels through an understanding of the individual’s coping strategy. Further research
should be conducted in other socio-economic regions and rural and urban areas could be compared to get a holistic view of coping strategies and suicide ideation levels in
South Africa, as a country.
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