Suicidal ideation, attempts and its determinants among young adults in Meghalaya: a cross sectional study.

Objectives: Suicide is a major health issue in India. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have experienced loss on a tremendous scale. The impact of these losses on the youth will be massive leading to a rise in depression cases, suicidal ideation and ultimately suicidal attempts. Hence there is a need to determine the prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and the predictors for both suicidal ideation and attempts among the young adults in Meghalaya.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among the students aged 18-25 years in NEIGRIHMS and Synod College in Shillong between March to April 2022. Data was collected by using questionnaire method.

Results: The prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts was found to be 15.9 % (12.3-20.3) and 5.8 % (3.7-8.9) respectively. There was a strong relationship for suicidal ideation with urban students, with less family members, those who had unhealthy relationship with their parents, stress, complicated relationship/loss of loved ones and also those with experience of violence/abuse and behavioural problems. However, the attempts were found to be associated only with the loss of the loved ones.

Conclusions: The prevalence, though smaller is a serious concern considering the fact that the burden of suicides is on a rise and hence regular mental health counselling along with the management of the stress is needed at the educational institutional level which could prove to be beneficial to the students.