The effect of awareness development program on suicide prevention for oncology nurses on the levels of literacy, stigma and perception of efficacy towards suicide

This study was conducted as an intervention study with pretest, posttest, follow-up design and control group in purpose of determining the effect of the Awareness Development Program on Suicide Prevention for Oncology Nurses on the levels of literacy, stigma and perception of efficacy towards suicide. The study was conducted between May and November 2023 with 86 nurses working in oncology inpatient clinics, chemotherapy unit/unit, bone marrow transplantation unit/unit and oncology outpatient clinic of Hacettepe University Oncology Hospital and T.R. Ministry of Health Ankara Provincial Health Directorate University of Health Sciences Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Ankara Oncology Training and Research Hospital. In the study, data were collected with the Descriptive Information Form, the Literacy of Suicide Scale, the Stigma of Suicide Scale and the Efficacy Perception Scale for Suicide Risk Management for Oncology Nurses. The nurses in the intervention group were applied the Awareness Development Program on Suicide Prevention for Oncology Nurses, while the nurses in the control group were not exposed to any intervention. Shapiro-Wilk test, chi-square test, Mann Whitney U test, Independent sample t test, Friedman test and Post-Hoc analysis were used to analyse the data. The results of the analyses showed that at the end of the program and at the 3-month follow-up, the literacy levels of the nurses in the intervention group about suicide and their efficacy perceptions of suicide risk management increased, and the levels of stigma towards suicide decreased compared to the pre-program and control groups. The Awareness Development Program on Suicide Prevention for Oncology Nurses have been found to be an effective program in developing awareness for suicide prevention, and it is recommended that that the programme should be scaled up for oncology nurses and integrated with national and international suicide prevention strategies. Keywords: Suicide; suicide prevention; nursing; oncology nursing