Dermatologists’ perceptions of suicidality in dermatological practice: a survey of prevalence estimates and attitudes in Austria.

Autor(en)

Ekaterina Pronizius, Martin Voracek

Abstrakt

Background Chronic illnesses belong to suicide risk factors. The goal of the current study was to estimate the rate of suicide-related behaviors in patients with atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, or acne from a third-person perspective (namely, Austrian dermatologists). Methods A link to a questionnaire specially developed for this study was emailed to 450 self-employed dermatologists in Austria, from which a total of 45 participated. Results Three dermatologists reported more than five patients with atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, or acne who committed suicide in 2017. Seven doctors treated between 1 and 10 such patients suffering from suicidal ideation. These results are suggestive for a low rate of suicidal ideations in Austrian dermatology ordinations. The majority of dermatologists in the sample (82%) knew that these patients are at higher suicide risk. 60% of participants also believed that it rather would not be a problem for them to recognize suicidal ideation. When facing patients in a suicide crisis, reported intervention steps were: referring them to a specialist in psychiatry, or having a conversation about it. In the sample, most challenging about suicide was lack of time and lack of knowledge. Dermatologists were also interested in cooperating with mental health professionals and in the implementation of new prevention strategies (e.g., suicide-related training programs). Analysis revealed that private specialists, as compared with contract physicians, had fewer patients, but spent more time with them. Yet, these differences did not appear to influence the quality of treatment they provided. Treatment quality was defined as the extent to which doctors tell their patients that additional psychological treatments could be helpful and asking them about their emotional state. Female gender and a professional background in psychology impacted positively on treatment quality. Conclusions Possible explanations for the low rate of suicidal ideations reported include the advanced Austrian health care system and dermatologists' underestimation of the problem. Implications of the study are to promote cooperation between dermatologists and mental health professionals and to address patient suicidality from a first-person perspective (i.e., the patients).

Organisation(en)

Institut für Psychologie der Kognition, Emotion und Methoden

Journal

BMC Dermatology

Band

20

Anzahl der Seiten

22

ISSN

1471-5945

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12895-020-00107-w

Publikationsdatum

09-2020

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

302067 Psychosomatik, 501010 Klinische Psychologie, 501022 Suizidologie, 302011 Dermatologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Dermatology

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 3 – Gesundheit und Wohlergehen

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/7b01890a-1d9f-416f-8490-7749429ee952