“Staffroom Gist,” Institutional Betrayal, and the Paradoxical Role of Schools in Adolescent Suicidal Behavior in Lagos, Nigeria

Background: Schools are increasingly positioned as platforms for adolescent suicide prevention in low- and middle-income countries, yet institutional cultures may also inhibit disclosure. In Nigerian public secondary schools, punitive discipline, public academic comparison, bullying, and limited counseling provision may interact with stigma and concerns about confidentiality. Aims: To examine how school cultures, confidentiality practices, and institutional trust shape adolescents’ willingness to disclose emotional distress and suicidal behavior in school-linked contexts in Lagos, Nigeria, and to identify conditions for safer school-linked prevention. Method: Four focus group discussions were conducted with 32 participants: adolescents, parents and caregivers, teachers and school staff, and child and adolescent mental health professionals. Participants were recruited through ten public secondary schools and three child and adolescent mental health clinics. Audio-recordings were transcribed, translated where necessary, deidentified, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis informed by socioecological and stigma frameworks. Results: Participants described schools as institutions that could amplify or buffer distress. “Staffroom gist” referred to the informal circulation of students’ private disclosures among staff and was associated with anticipated stigma, loss of trust, and pre-emptive silence. Academic shaming, punitive discipline, bullying, and public comparison were described as risk-amplifying, whereas relationally safe adults, credible confidentiality, external partnerships, and functional welfare pathways were viewed as protective. Participants also identified a gap between staff capacity to recognize distress and their ability to respond or refer effectively. Limitations: The findings derive from a purposively selected urban sample and one focus group per stakeholder category. Group discussions may also have constrained disclosure of highly sensitive experiences. Conclusion: School-linked suicide prevention may depend as much on institutional trust, confidentiality, disciplinary culture, and referral capacity as on staff knowledge and case recognition.