Examination of the relationship between suicide risk, psychological pain and resilience in nursing students

Aim: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between suicide risk, psychological pain and resilience in nursing students. Method: This cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational study was carried out between March-May 2021 at Akdeniz University Faculty of Nursing. The research was conducted with 619 students who met the criteria for inclusion in the sample. Data were collected online via 'Google Forms' using the 'Personal Information Form', the 'Suicide Probability Scale', the 'Psychache Scale' and the " The Brief Resilience Scale". SPSS for Windows 23.0 and LISREL 8.71 programs were used in the analysis of the data. In order to determine the mediating effect of resilience between psychological pain and suicide probability, a structural model was first established and Path Analysis was performed. The reporting of the research was carried out in line with STROBE. Results: It was determined that there was a high level of positive correlation (r = .74, p<.01) and a common variance of 55% (R2 =.55) between students' suicide probability scores and psychological pain scores. It was found that there was a moderate negative correlation (r = -.52, p<.01) and a 27% common variance (R2 =.27) between suicide probability scores and resilience scores. It was determined that there was a moderate negative correlation (r =-.53, p<.01) and a 28% common variance (R2 =.28) between psychological pain scores and resilience scores. It was determined that resilience had a semi-mediating effect between psychological pain and suicide probability, and the effect size was found to be large (.57). Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that there is a relationship between suicide probability, psychological pain and resilience. It shows that the probability of suicide increases as the level of psychological pain increases, the level of psychological pain decreases as the level of resilience increases, and the probability of suicide decreases as the level of resilience increases. It also shows that resilience has a semi-mediating effect on the relationship between psychological pain and suicide probability. Key words: nursing students, suicide, psychological pain, psychiatric nursing, resilience