EPA-1195 – Peculiarities of Revealing the Suicidal Tendencies in Adolescents with Disabilities

Abstract

Suicidal behavior of children and adolescents with disabilities remains little studied. Adolescents with disabilities belong to risk group of development of suicidal behavior (Merrick J., Merrick E., et al., 2006; Ludi E., Ballard E.D., et al., 2012). At present stage strategies of prevention of suicides in people with disabilities have not been developed (Friedman N.D., Shedlack K.J., 2011; Ludi E., Ballard E.D., Greenbaum R. et al., 2012).

Anonymous questioning of 64 schoolchildren with sight and hearing disorders of correction boarding-schools, 12-17 years old has been conducted. Questions concerned mood, presence of suicidal thoughts and plans, presence of a person whom it is possible to share their own problems with.

Children with sight disorder more often than children with hearing disorder experience negative emotions caused by awareness of their defect that might be a cause of decrease of mood, suicidal thoughts. These children draw attention by contradiction in answers of the question about presence of a nearest person (81,8%) and feeling lonely in 34,1%. Rather desired presence of a person whom it is possible to share their own problems with may be supposed.

Thus, children from correction schools need for work on formation of skills of psychological resistance and social competence. Obtained data are conditioning necessity of preventive activity on revealing and preventing the suicides in children and conducting timely correction.