A comparison of suicide probability and psychological symptoms between Syrian refugees and the local population

The civil war in Syria has led to the forced migration of millions of people, and Turkey has become the country hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees. In this study, suicidal ideation and psychological symptom scores of a total of 219 participants—100 Syrian refugees and 119 local individuals living in Istanbul—were compared. The Personal Information Form was used to assess participants' sociodemographic characteristics, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) to measure psychological symptoms, and the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) to evaluate suicidal ideation. In addition, the Turkish Language Proficiency Questionnaire was administered to determine the Turkish proficiency levels of Syrian participants. Data analyses were conducted using SPSS software. The findings indicated that Syrian participants had significantly higher SPS scores, while no statistically significant difference was found between the groups in terms of psychological symptom scores. The results of this study are expected to contribute to a better understanding of the mental health needs of both refugee and local populations, to identify differences and similarities between these groups, and to inform the development of effective psychosocial support programs.