Yale Study: 20% of Seafarers Have Contemplated Suicide or Self-Harm in the Past Two Weeks.
“Seafarers with suicidal ideation were defined as those responding “several days,” “more than half the days,” or “nearly every day” to the question, “Over the past 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself in some way?” ”
From Safety4Sea.com
20% of seafarers have contemplated suicide or self-harm within past two weeks, Yale study finds
A new study by Yale University to 1,572 seafarers has identified potentially dangerous levels of depression, anxiety and suicide risk among the world’s seafarers. Within the previous two weeks of completing the survey, 25% of respondents had suffered depression, 17% had experienced anxiety and 20% had contemplated suicide or self-harm.
Commissioned by the ITF Seafarers’ Trust charity, the goal of the study was to determine rates and factors associated with mental health conditions in seafarers and identify opportunities for preventive interventions.
This follows a similar study conducted by Yale and Sailors’ Society in March 2018, which showed that more than a quarter of seafarers show signs of depression and many won’t ask for help.
For the purposes of the study, seafarers with a PHQ-9 score of 10 or greater were considered seafarers with depression, and seafarers with a GAD-7 score of 10 or greater, seafarers with anxiety.
Additionally, seafarers with suicidal ideation were defined those responding “several days,” “more than half the days,” or “nearly every day” to the question, “Over the past 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself in some way?”
Read the full article on Safety4Sea.com