The effectiveness of a vignette approach to teaching suicide risk factors: An Omani perspective

Figures & data

Table

Practice points

When teaching about relative suicide risk students should be encouraged to be reflexive and consider the contribution that their own background has to their assessment of relative risk. In countries and cultures where there is a particularly strong taboo concerning the topic of suicide medical educators should pay particular attention to enabling their students to better understand the relative contributions of risk and protective factors. When a published educational tool or technique is applied in the medical education of students from a different cultural or religious background it is essential to validate its efficacy through pedagogic research.

Table 1.  Students’ subjective experience rating of the exercise

1 (not at all enjoyable) to 7 (very enjoyable)	Mean (median)
How much did you learn about issues related to suicide as a result of this exercise?	4.96 (5)
How enjoyable was this exercise?	5.12 (5)
This exercise should be used again in the future.	5.76 (6)
How useful was this exercise in prompting you to think about issues related to suicide?	5.80 (6)
I learned more about issues related to suicide than if I had not participated in the exercise.	5.08 (5)
This exercise was a waste of my time.	1.60 (2)
Participating in the exercise increased my understanding of issues related to suicide	5.96 (6)

Figure 1. Initial (a) and final (b) rankings. Percentage of students choosing each ranking. The correct ranking is shown in bold.

Table 2.  Frequencies of established factors in the thematic content analysis

	Percentage of students correctly identifying the factor
Maria (rank = 1)
Previous suicide attempt	92
Break-up of a long-term relationship	76
Alex (rank = 2)
Substance abuse	28
Access to firearms	35
Recent giving away of possessions	25
Divorced (3 times)	71
Limited social support	29
Amy (rank = 3)
Depressed	34
Ostracized as a result of lesbianism	64
Receiving treatment	73
Joe (rank = 4)
Loss of job	79
Suicidal Ideation	76*
Benefits from family/social support	45

Note: *All of the students identified suicidal ideation as a factor, but 24% of them made additional errors in relation to this SI, such as it being a “suicidal attempt” or “specific suicidal plan”.