TY - JOUR
TI - A case-control study of hopelessness and suicidal behavior in the city
of Athens, Greece. The role of the financial crisis
AU - Christodoulou, Christos
AU - Efstathiou, Vasiliki
AU - Michopoulos,
AU - Ioannis
AU - Ferentinos, Panagiotis
AU - Korkoliakou, Panagiota and
AU - Gkerekou, Maria
AU - Bouras, Georgios
AU - Papadopoulou, Athanasia and
AU - Papageorgiou, Charalabos
AU - Douzenis, Athanassios
JO - Psychology, Health & Medicine
PY - 2017
VL - 22
TODO - 7
SP - 772-777
PB - ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
SN - 1354-8506, 1465-3966
TODO - 10.1080/13548506.2016.1164872
TODO - Hopelessness; validation; age; suicide attempt; financial crisis
TODO - This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of Beck
Hopelessness Scale (BHS) in Greek patients with a recent suicide
attempt, the predictive ability of BHS especially in terms of age and
the possible effect of the financial crisis on hopelessness as it has
been identified as a significant suicide risk factor. The study included
a total of 510 individuals, citizens of Athens, Greece. Three hundred
and forty individuals (170 attempted suicide patients, and 170 -age and
gender- matched healthy individuals used as controls) completed BHS
before the financial crisis onset (from 2009 to 2010). A sample of 170
healthy individuals also completed the BHS after the financial crisis
onset (from 2013 to 2014), when the impact of the austerity measures was
being felt by the Greek society. The Greek BHS version demonstrated good
psychometric properties and a sufficient degree of internal consistency.
Attempted suicide patients (M=9) presented higher hopelessness than the
controls (M=3). The patients' age positively correlated with
hopelessness (r(s)=.35, p<.001), and the ROC curve revealed that the BHS
ability to discriminate the individuals with pathological rates of
hopelessness from those without, strengthened as age increased. No
significant differences were found between the individuals evaluated
before (M=3) and after (M=3, p>.05) the crisis onset. Nevertheless,
regarding the latter group, the women, the younger individuals, the less
educated, the unemployed and the participants with low or mediocre
self-reported financial status presented increased hopelessness. Our
findings suggest that BHS could be a useful instrument especially when
screening for suicide risk in people of older age, and that the
financial crisis in Greece had a greater impact on subgroups of the
population regarding hopelessness.
ER -