Abstract: Purpose: Suicide behavior is one of the major public health concerns and one of the leading causes of death globally. 1 However, data shows that 75% of suicide deaths worldwide emanated from low-and middle-income countries. 2 The alarming upsurge in suicide rate among adolescents in Nigeria calls for clinical effective treatment options for at-risk adolescents. This present study therefore sought to assess efficacy of pharmacotherapy and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) in suicide behavior among inpatient and outpatient adolescents with mood disorders.
Methods: The researchers assigned the recruited 81 patients (N = 43 outpatients for DBT) and (N= 38 inpatients for Pharmacotherapy) to participate in a quasi-experimental research design to evaluate differential effects of pharmacotherapy and DBT treatment options. The Suicide Behavior Questionnaire-revised version was used to collect data from the patients who participated in the study.
Results: The mean estimate of the two therapeutic approaches showed that the approaches were statistically efficacious to reduce suicidal behavior (Ps < 0.0001). The DiD estimator using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) showed a declining trend over the pre-test and post-test period of assessment, depicting reduction in the suicidal scores, however, these reductions were insignificant (p=0.523). This means, the two approaches are equally effective in suicide reduction. However, Cohen d effect size for Pharmacotherapy (d= 2.245; 95% CI: 1.460 – 3.031) and effect size for DBT was (d=2.586; 95% CI: 1.884 – 3.241) over assessment periods indicated that pharmacotherapy intervention was able to reduce mean suicide behaviors lower (2.245) than DBT (2.586).
Conclusion: Result from this quasi-experimental study implied that treatment of suicidal behaviors among participants was slightly more effective using pharmacotherapy compared to DBT but statistically insignificant. Further study on combination of Pharmacotherapy and DBT for effective prognosis.
Keywords: efficacy, pharmacotherapy, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), suicide behaviors, adolescents, Nigeria.
Title: Efficacy of pharmacotherapy and dialectical behavior therapy in treatment of suicide behavior among inpatient and outpatient adolescents at Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Annex, Cappa-Lagos, Nigeria
Author: Samuel O. Ojuade, Alice Munene, Paul Mbutu.
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online)
Vol. 11, Issue 2, April 2023 - June 2023
Page No: 39-48
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 25-April-2023
