Which statement about nurses and suicide is not true?

Nurses and Suicide: Examining the Facts

The statement that is NOT true is that "A proactive screening program is important to identify nurses with risk factors for suicidal ideation." While this may seem like good practice, there is insufficient evidence supporting the effectiveness of proactive screening programs for suicide risk in any population, including nurses.

Evidence on Suicide Risk Among Nurses

Research clearly demonstrates that nurses are at higher risk for suicide compared to the general population:

• Nurses have a significantly higher risk of suicide than the general population (female IRR 1.395,95% CI 1.323-1.470; male IRR 1.205,95% CI 1.083-1.338) 1
• Among 7,378 nurse respondents in a 2017 survey, 5.5% reported having suicidal ideation within the past year 2
• Nurses are more likely than other workers to experience suicidal ideation 2

Gender Differences in Nurse Suicide

The evidence confirms that male nurses have higher suicide rates than female nurses:

• Male nurses who died by suicide most frequently used firearms (41.7%), similar to the general male population 1
• Female nurses who completed suicide most commonly used pharmacologic poisoning (27.2%) 1
• This gender difference in suicide methods among nurses mirrors patterns seen in the general population but with profession-specific access to means

Barriers to Mental Health Help-Seeking Among Nurses

The evidence strongly supports that nurses are concerned about professional consequences of seeking mental health help:

• While 84.2% of nurses indicated willingness to seek professional help for serious emotional problems, this dropped to only 72.6% among nurses with suicidal ideation 2
• Nurses with suicidal ideation were less likely to seek help than those without such ideation 2
• The stigma associated with mental health problems creates significant barriers to seeking help among nurses 2, 3

Screening for Suicide Risk

The USPSTF guidelines provide critical information about suicide screening:

• There is insufficient evidence to determine whether screening for suicide risk in primary care is effective 4
• The USPSTF "concludes that the evidence on screening for suicide risk in primary care is insufficient and that the balance of benefits and harms cannot be determined" 4
• No direct evidence shows that screening for suicide risk improves health outcomes in asymptomatic adolescents or adults 4

Risk Factors for Suicide Among Nurses

Several work-related and personal factors increase suicide risk among nurses:

• Burnout is strongly associated with suicidal ideation among nurses 2
• Job problems were more prevalent among nurses who died by suicide compared to non-nurses (female: 12.8% vs. 7.2%; male: 19.9% vs. 11.9%) 3
• Workplace bullying significantly increases risk of suicidal ideation (RR = 6.22,95% CI 3.13-12.38) 5
• Nurses who died by suicide were more likely to have a reported mental health problem compared to non-nurses 3

Conclusion

The evidence clearly shows that nurses face elevated suicide risk, male nurses have higher suicide death rates than female nurses, and many nurses fear professional consequences from seeking mental health help. However, there is insufficient evidence supporting proactive screening programs for identifying suicide risk, making this the false statement among the options presented.