Abstract

MOJICA, César Augusto; SAENZ, Diego Arturo  and  REY-ANACONA, César Armando. Suicidal Risk, Hopelessness, and Depression in Colombian Prison Inmates. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2009, vol.38, n.4, pp.681-692. ISSN 0034-7450.

Introduction: This study examined the relationship between suicidal risk and hopelessness, depression, and the following socio demographic variables: Age, time of conviction, time of reclusion and number of reclusions, in a sample of convicted inmates of a Colombian penitentiary establishment. Also, it compared these variables in inmates with and without suicidal risk. Methods: A comparative descriptive and correlational design was used, in which 95 males participated between the ages of 15 to 59, selected by a simple random sampling. Four instruments were used: The Plutchick Scale of Suicidal Risk, the Beck Scale of Hopelessness, the Beck Depression Inventory and a socio-demographic survey. Results: Twenty percent (20%) of participants presented suicidal risk. Comparison between the participants with suicidal risk and without suicidal risk showed that the media of the first group was significantly higher in hopelessness and depression whereas there were not statistically significant differences with regard to the other variables. A lineal regression analysis evidenced a positive statistically significant correlation with hopelessness, depression and the number of reclusions, but not with the other socio-demographic variables. Conclusion: The results show that the prisoners that present suicidal risk have moderate and high levels of hopelessness and depression, with a positive correlation between suicidal risk and these variables.

Keywords : Suicidal risk; hopelessness; depression; inmates.

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