Suicide literacy mediates the path from religiosity to suicide stigma among Muslim community adults: Cross-sectional data from four Arab countries
Feten Fekih-Romdhane 1 2, Suhad Daher-Nashif 3 4, Manel Stambouli 1 2, Amthal Alhuwailah 5, Mai Helmy 6 7, Hanaa Ahmed Mohamed Shuwiekh 8, Cheikh Mohamed Fadel Mohamed Lemine 9, Eqbal Radwan 10, Juliann Saquib 11, Nazmus Saquib 11, Mirna Fawaz 12, Btissame Zarrouq 13, Abdallah Y Naser 14, Sahar Obeid 15, Maan Saleh 16, Sanad Haider 17, Lahmer Miloud 18, Manal Badrasawi 19, Ayman Hamdan-Mansour 20, Mariapaola Barbato 21, Aisha Bakhiet 22, Najat Sayem 23, Samir Adawi 24, Fatheya Grein 25, Alexandre Andrade Loch 26 27, Majda Cheour 1 2, Souheil Hallit 28 29 30 31
Affiliations
Affiliations
- 1Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, Tunis El Manar University, Tunisia.
- 2Department of Psychiatry Ibn Omrane, The Tunisian Center of Early Intervention in Psychosis, Razi Hospital, Tunisia.
- 3School of Medicine, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK.
- 4College of Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
- 5Department of Psychology, Kuwait University, Kuwait.
- 6Psychology Department, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
- 7Psychology Department, Faculty of Arts, Menoufia University, Egypt.
- 8Department of Psychology, Fayoum University, Faiyum, Egypt.
- 9Psychiatry Department, IBN HASSAN Hospital, HASSAN II University Hospital Center, Fès, Morocco.
- 10Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine.
- 11Clinical Sciences Department, College of Medicine, Sulaiman AlRajhi University, Bukariyah, Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
- 12Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beirut Arab University, Lebanon.
- 13Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Research in Health Sciences, Fez, Morocco.
- 14Department of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Isra University, Amman, Jordan.
- 15Social and Education Sciences Department, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon.
- 16Department of Psychiatry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
- 17Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Behavioral Sciences Dep. A, Aden, Yemen.
- 18The National Centre of Research in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Oran, Algeria.
- 19Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
- 20School of Nursing, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
- 21Department of Psychology, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Dubai, UAE.
- 22Department of Psychiatry, University of Khartoum, Sudan.
- 23Psychology Department, Sanaa University, Yemen.
- 24Behavioural Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
- 25Sebha Psychiatry Center, Libya.
- 26Laboratorio de Neurociencias (LIM 27), Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- 27Instituto Nacional de Biomarcadores em Neuropsiquiatria (INBION), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnológico, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- 28School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon.
- 29Psychology Department, College of Humanities, Effat University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- 30Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
- 31Research Department, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, Jal Eddib, Lebanon.
Abstract
Background: The majority of research attention has been devoted to the link between religiosity and suicide risk, and a considerable amount of studies has been carried out on how stigma impacts individuals with mental health problems of different kinds. However, the interplay between religiosity, suicide literacy and suicide stigma has seldom been empirically researched, especially quantitatively. We sought through this study to redress the imbalance of research attention by examining the relationship between religiosity and suicide stigma; and the indirect and moderating effects of suicide literacy on this relationship.
Method: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted among Arab-Muslim adults originating from four Arab countries (Egypt: N = 1029, Kuwait: N = 2182, Lebanon N = 781, Tunisia N = 2343; Total sample: N = 6335). The outcome measures included the Arabic Religiosity Scale which taps into variation in the degree of religiosity, the Stigma of Suicide Scale-short form to the solicit degree of stigma related to suicide, and the Literacy of Suicide Scale explores knowledge and understanding of suicide.
Results: Our Mediation analyses findings showed that literacy of suicide partially mediated the association between religiosity and stigmatizing attitude toward suicide. Higher religiosity was significantly associated with less literacy of suicide; higher literacy of suicide was significantly associated with less stigma of suicide. Finally, higher religiosity was directly and significantly associated with more stigmatization attitude toward suicide.
Conclusion: We contribute the literature by showing, for the first time, that suicide literacy plays a mediating role in the association between religiosity and suicide stigma in a sample of Arab-Muslim community adults. This preliminarily suggests that the effects of religiosity on suicide stigma can be modifiable through improving suicide literacy. This implies that interventions targeting highly religious individuals should pay dual attention to increasing suicide literacy and lowering suicide stigma.
Keywords: Arab countries; Islam; Suicide stigma; religiosity; suicide literacy.
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