Abstract:
Suicidal ideation is a strong predictor of suicide in both the general population as well as among
adolescents. Suicidal ideation becomes severe and worsens when one fails to overcome a problem.
The present study was focused on determining the prevalence and on predicting the suicidal ideation
among adults in the Batticaloa District of Sri Lanka (BDSL). It was a quantitative cross-sectional
study. Data were collected from the all adult patients who admitted in male and female medical
wards of Base Hospital, Kaluwanchikudy (BHK) with the prior official permission of Medical
Superintendent, BHK during the period of 1st January to 31st May 2019. Two-stage cluster sampling
method was applied. All base hospitals of BDSL treated as primary cluster while all wards of BHK
served as a secondary cluster. Statistical software (SPSS 25.0) was used to analyse the datathe and pvalue
< 0.05 was considered significant for all analyses. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical
Review Committee, Faculty of Health-Care Sciences, Eastern University, Sri Lanka. Totally 237 adult
participant recruited for this study. Majority of them (51.5%) were female. Prevalence of current
suicidal ideation of the recruited participant is 20700/100,000. Moreover the prevalence of suicidal
ideation within the last two months also numerically the same as the current prevalence. Prevalence
of lifetime suicidal ideation is 24,900/100,000. The majority (95.7%) of the patients correctly classified
as current non-suicidal thoughts people while 61.2% patients correctly categorised as current suicidal
thoughts people and overall 88.6% patients were correctly classified to the corresponding groups.
Prevalence of current suicidal ideation is high in the Batticaloa district of Sri Lanka compared to
literature. Males are more prone to suicidal ideation compare to females. Interacted factors play a
significant role to predict the current and lifetime suicidal ideation.
