Explorative Factor Extraction of Psychosocial Determinants Associated With Suicidal Ideation among Adults in Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background: Suicidal ideation is a significant public health issue since it leads to preventable death eventually. It is a complex problem and therefore it has to be investigated in multi-level. Objective: Present study was directed to identify the psychosocial determinants of suicidal ideation among adults in Batticaloa District of Sri Lanka (BDSL). Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out with the participation of 237 (majority age category 50-<60 years) adult patients (55.5% female) admitted to medical wards of Base Hospital, Kaluwanchikudy (BHK) during the period of 1st January to 31st May 2019. Two stage cluster sampling method was applied. Possible psychosocial factors for suicidal ideation were included in the questionnaire. Statistical software (SPSS 25.0) was used to analyze the data and p-value<0.05 was considered significant for all analyses. Explorative Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed. Ethical approval was obtained from Ethical Review Committee, Faculty of Health Care Sciences, Eastern University, Sri Lanka. Results: Sampling adequacy for EFA was full filed (KMO=0.785).Independent variables were correlated among them (Bartlett's test of Sphericity was significant (chi-square=5196.99, p=0.00). In EFA, 28 independent variables were grouped into SIX factors that are associated with suicidal ideation. These six factors were altogether contributed to the 66.9% of the total variance partitioned into 24.0% by factor-01(F1), 15.9% by factor-02(F2), 7.9% by factor 03(F3), 7.0% by factor-04(F4), 6.1% by factor-05(F5) and 5.7% by factor-06(F6). The SIX factors extracted were named as; F1-personal life and mental health status, F2-health status and married life, F3-sexual life of married people, F4-occupational status, F5-attempted suicide and F6-ethnicity. Conclusions: Twenty eight independent variables were identified as associated psychosocial factors with suicidal ideation among adult community grouped into SIX factors as;personal life and mental health status, health status and married life, sexual life of married people, occupational status, attempted suicide and ethnicity.