Reasons for attempting suicide: An exploratory study in Ghana
Abstract
This study examined the reasons for suicide attempts among patients in Ghana. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 30 informants who had been hospitalized for attempted suicide. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the transcribed narratives, and five main themes emerged: 1) lack of support; 2) abandonment; 3) shame; 4) existential struggles; and 5) supernatural reasons. There were gender differences with abandonment reported by only women and shame associated with economic difficulties reported only by men. Findings are discussed within the context of a socio-cultural theory of suicide behaviour, and implications for the prevention of suicide and care of suicidal persons are suggested.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The reasons cited in this study are all predominantly related to adversities in living, further confirming that suicidality in Ghana appears to be psychosocially based.
“The reasons cited in this study are all predominantly related to adversities in living, further confirming that suicidality in Ghana appears to be psychosocially based [3, 36, 47].”
From Exploring the role of religion in the recovery experiences of suicide attempt survivors in Ghana (2023) · cites this paper as [47]
When people engage in suicide and survive, the experience might trigger various existential crises including reconciling their actions with the requirements of their faith and religious dogmas.
“When people engage in suicide and survive, the experience might trigger various existential crises including reconciling their actions with the requirements of their faith and religious dogmas [36].”
From Exploring the role of religion in the recovery experiences of suicide attempt survivors in Ghana (2023) · cites this paper as [36]
The reasons cited in this study are all predominantly related to adversities in living, further confirming that suicidality in Ghana appears to be psychosocially based.
“The reasons cited in this study are all predominantly related to adversities in living, further confirming that suicidality in Ghana appears to be psychosocially based [3, 36, 47].”
From Exploring the role of religion in the recovery experiences of suicide attempt survivors in Ghana (2023) · cites this paper as [36]
Cites
Folkman, S., & Moskowitz, J. T. (2004) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141456 · Cited by 3,485 · see citing works
Suicide and poverty in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review
Iemmi, V., Bantjes, J., Coast, E., Channer, K., Leone, T., McDaid, D., Palfreyman, A., Stephens, B., & Lund, C. (2016) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(16)30066-9 · Cited by 319 · see citing works
Risk factors for suicide in rural south India
Manoranjitham, S. D., Rajkumar, A. P., Thangadurai, P., Prasad, J., Jayakaran, R., & Jacob, K. S. (2010) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.108.063347 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Marriage and Suicide among Chinese Rural Young Women
Zhang, J. (2010) · Social Forces · doi:10.1353/sof.2010.0065 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Attempted Suicide in Ghana: Motivation, Stigma, and Coping
Osafo, J., Akotia, C. S., Andoh-Arthur, J., & Quarshie, E. N.-B. (2015) · Death Studies · doi:10.1080/07481187.2014.991955 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Self-citationInfluence of Religious Factors on Attitudes Towards Suicidal Behaviour in Ghana
Osafo, J., Knizek, B. L., Akotia, C. S., & Hjelmeland, H. (2013) · Journal of Religion and Health · doi:10.1007/s10943-011-9487-3 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Self-citationAkotia, C. S., Knizek, B. L., Kinyanda, E., & Hjelmeland, H. (2014) · Mental Health, Religion & Culture · doi:10.1080/13674676.2013.829426 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Exploring the role of religion in the recovery experiences of suicide attempt survivors in Ghana
Osafo, J., Asare-Doku, W., & Akotia, C. S. (2023) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-023-04674-3 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“The reasons cited in this study are all predominantly related to adversities in living, further confirming that suicidality in Ghana appears to be psychosocially based [3, 36, 47].”
BackgroundSelf-citation
- Authors
- Akotia, C. S., Knizek, B. L., Hjelmeland, H., Kinyanda, E., & Osafo, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Ghana (GH)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit (UG)
- Corresponding author
- Akotia, Charity S.
- Venue
- Transcultural Psychiatry
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-10-09
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 233-249
- ISSN
- 1363-4615 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7471
- OpenAlex
- W2777824314
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 4.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Transcultural Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Norges Forskningsråd
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Keywords
- suicide attempts, suicide motives, lack of social support, abandonment, shame, existential conflict, supernatural beliefs, gender differences, economic hardship, suicide prevention, suicidal patients, Ghana
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Female, Ghana, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Middle Aged, Sex Factors, Shame, Social Support, Suicide, Attempted, Causality, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
