The Effect of Mothers’ Psycho-education on Tendency to Indirect Self-Destructive Behavior Among Female Adolescents Attempting Suicide

Indirect self-destructive behaviors have attracted the attention of many researchers in recent years. This study explored the effectiveness of mothers’ psycho-education in reducing indirect self-destructive behaviors in suicidal female adolescents.

Totally, 42 Iranian girls aged 12-17 years who attempted suicide during the period of September 2014 till March 2015 and their mothers were selected from pediatric emergency ward of Nemazee Hospital affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and randomly divided into experimental (n=21) and control (n=21) groups. Both groups received the usual psychiatric treatment and a psycho-educational program was arranged for mothers of experimental group. The psycho-educational program consisted of four 45-min sessions held for two weeks. The Chronic Self-Destructive Scale (CSDS) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Parent and self-report forms) were used to assess subjects’ indirect self-destructive behaviors and emotional and behavioral problems at baseline, post-test, and 3 months later.

The scores of CSDS and SDQ (Parent and self-report) decreased significantly during the trial (p <0.001). The trend of decrease in the two groups was statistically significant (p <0.001). Compared with the control group, the experimental group showed significantly reduced mean score in CSDS and SDQ in self and parent report both in post-test and after 3 months’ follow-up.

These results suggest that psycho-educational intervention for mothers can reduce the tendency to indirect self-destructive behaviors in Iranian female adolescents who had attempted suicide.