Literacy and stigma of suicide among Islamic religious leaders (Imams) in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Literacy and stigma of suicide among religious leaders affect help-seeking behaviours for suicidal behaviour in the community. We did not find any study assessing the literacy and stigma level among religious leaders in Bangladesh to date. We aimed to assess the status of suicide literacy and stigma and factors related to them among religious leaders in Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study was conducted from April to July 2023. Data were collected from 162 religious leaders (Imams) by self-reporting instrument purposively. The instruments contain several parts, like socio-demographic variables, suicidal behaviour, suicide literacy, and stigma towards suicide. The mean literacy score was 4.75 ± 1.56 (range 1–8). We did not find any relationship between suicide literacy and stigma. We found a positive correlation between stigma and isolation subscales (r = 0.67; p < 0.001) and a negative correlation between isolation and glorification subscales (r = −0.28; p < 0.001). Suicide literacy was higher in Imams with better income (p = 0.025), and Imams who observed suicide in close persons (p = 0.017). Isolation was lower in Imams with a family history of suicide attempts (p = 0.036), and lifetime suicidal thoughts (p = 0.020) whilst glorification was higher in persons with suicide attempts (p < 0.007). In conclusion, suicide literacy among the Islamic religious leaders (Imams) of Bangladesh is low and similar to the levels among the students. Strategies are warranted to improve the situation, as religious leaders can play important roles in suicide prevention and help-seeking for suicidal behaviour.

Keywords:

• Religious leaders
• suicide
• Bangladesh
• suicide literacy
• stigma of suicide

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Md Noor E. Alam for his support during data processing.

Author contribution

Conception and design: SMY Arafat; Methods and instrument development: Md. Khayrul Islam, SMY Arafat; Data collection: Md. Khayrul Islam; Data analysis: Md Abdullah Saeed Khan; Drafting the manuscript: MM Maruf, SMY Arafat; Revision and approval: All authors

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this paper.