Social Class Status and Suicide Characteristics: A Survey among Patients Who Attempted Suicide in Isfahan

INTRODUCTION: Suicide is one of the most prominent problems in health care system in current Iran. It could be impacted by various factors such as social, economic, individual and so on. Researchers show that socio-economic factors and suicide has significantly related. The people in low social class may more engage with social problems than higher social class. They may confront to problems such as crime, violence, unemployment, financial hardship, population density, disorder personality, etc. However, these difficulties could be resulted from relationship of inequality socio-economic and mental or physical health. This research attempted to examine social class status and its relationship with parts of suicide characteristics. METHODS: This study applied a descriptive approach. In the cross-sectional research 179 patients who attempted suicide and admitted to the toxicology ward of Nour hospital and to the burning ward of Imam Mousa Kazem hospital, in Isfahan, during a period of 6 months in 2010 were recruited. The randomize sampling for patients admitted to toxicology ward and census for burning ward are applied. Data collected through a questionnaire which Chronbagh coefficient’s alpha was calculated (r= 0/72). Data was analyzed in SPSS software. FINDINGS: The data showed that the majority of patients who attempted suicide were young married women who had diploma and under diploma of level education. They were housewife, engaged in education and unemployment. Finding showed that there are no significant relationships between sex, age, marital status, frequency of attempted suicide and their social class. But there is significant relationship between methods of suicide and social class. Similarly, there are significant relationship between social factors (i.e. family friction, betrothal, unemployment, financial problems and so on) effected on suicide and their social classes. Parts of findings were supported by previous studies.