A Study to Assess the Awareness Regarding Suicidal Behaviour of Adolescents Among Mothers of Selected Wards at Angadipuram Panchayat, With a View to Develop an Informational Booklet

Background The World Health Organization has defined “adolescents” as persons in the 10 to 19-year age group. Suicidal behaviour is increasingly becoming a phenomenon associated with young people and an important public health issue. However, there are very few studies evaluating impact of young peoples' attitudes towards suicide and suicidal behaviour. Due to the high prevalence of this issue in our society, we took up this study to throw some light upon ways to increase awareness among the mothers regarding suicidal behaviour of adolescents. Methods Survey research design was adopted. We systematically collected needed information through administration of demographic performa and modified questionnaire to mothers of adolescents. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results From the study it was evident that majority of the sample, 89 (89%) were having very poor awareness, 9(9%) had poor awareness and remaining 2 (2%) had moderate awareness regarding suicidal behaviour of adolescents. The Chi- square value is less than table value 0.05 level of significance which reveals that there is a significant association between the awareness of mothers and number of children. Conclusion Suicide is a major public health issue that warrants attention. It has been found to be one of the leading causes of death in adolescents and youth worldwide (American academy of Child and adolescent psychiatry, 2021, World Health Organization, 2021). Adolescence, being the initial founding years of life, is very critical. Any mental health issue in this phase of life should be taken seriously to prevent further progress in adulthood (Blakemore, 2019). India has the world’s largest adolescent population (approximately 253 million), and every 5th person in India is between 10 and 19 years of age (UNICEF INDIA, 2019).