Caring stress, suicidal attitude and suicide care ability among family caregivers of suicidal individuals: a path analysis

Accessible summaryWhat is known on the subject? Suicide is a global mental health issue. Taking care of suicidal individuals is a substantial challenge. Most studies emphasize the suicidal individual. Few studies have emphasized the family caregivers of suicidal individuals. No study has explored the relationship between family caregivers' caring stress with suicidal attitudes and suicide care ability. What this paper adds to existing knowledge? The main results indicated that the older family caregivers tended to have a more negative attitude towards suicidal individuals. Female family caregivers' stress was higher than that of male family caregivers. A mild level of caring stress would help family caregivers have a more positive attitude towards suicidal individuals. Furthermore, a positive attitude would help family caregivers improve their caring ability. What are the implications for practice? Mental health nurses could help family caregivers, especially female family caregivers, reduce their holistic caring burden by looking for support resources and enhancing their coping strategies. Mental health nurses could help family caregivers promote positive attitudes towards suicidal relatives by understanding suicidal individuals' suffering. Abstract Introduction Suicide is a global mental health issue. Family caregivers play a key role in preventing suicide attempts. Aims The aim of this study was to examine the relationship among stress due to the family caregiver's role, suicidal attitude of the family caregiver and suicide care ability among family caregivers. Additionally, instruments of caring stress, attitudes towards suicidal relatives and caring abilities used in the study were tested to measure construct validity. Methods A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with 164 family caregivers of people who are suicidal. The following three questionnaires were used: the Caring Stress Scale, the Suicidal Attitudes Scale and the Suicidal Caring Ability Scale. Structural equation modelling was performed using SPSS AMOS 19.0 to examine the path relationships among variables. Results Bivariate analyses showed that age was negatively correlated with suicidal attitude. In the final path model, caring stress had a positive effect on suicidal attitudes. Suicidal attitude and suicide care ability were highly positively correlated. Gender had a direct effect on caring stress, which indicated that female family caregivers experienced more stress from their role. Implications for practice: Mental health nurses could help family caregivers become aware of the emotional pain that suicidal people experience and then promote their positive attitudes towards their suicidal relatives. Furthermore, family caregivers could increase their ability to care for their suicidal relatives, which could reduce the numbers of suicides.