Pre-Experimental Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Theme-Based Short film on the Level of Knowledge Regarding Youth Suicide and its Prevention Among the Parents Living in Selected Urban Community Area of Delhi, India

Abstract

Background: Every year, more than 800,000 individuals die by suicide throughout the world. India’s suicide rate is
greatest in the 15-29 age bracket, according to a 2012 Lancet analysis.4 In India, from a public mental health perspective,
adolescent or youth suicide is a major challenge that must be addressed through effective preventive measures. This
research article provides a brief overview of the level of knowledge regarding youth suicide and its prevention among
the parent population.5
Methods: A quantitative research approach with pre-experimental one group pre-test post-test design and non-probability
purposive sampling technique was adopted with 40 parents. A structured knowledge questionnaire having 20 items
followed by theme-based short film was administered on the 1st day, and post-test was taken on the 8th day.
Results: Data obtained was analysed and result showed level of knowledge of parents as good, average, poor and excellent;
scores in pre-test were 67.5%, 20%, 7.5% and 5% respectively; as compared to the results in the post test where 80% parents
had excellent and 20% had good level of knowledge regarding youth suicide and its prevention. Therefore, the short-film
was found to be effective. Mean pre-test knowledge score of the parents was 11.4 and post-test mean knowledge score of
was 16.1 with the standard deviation 9.37 and 4.84 respectively. The difference was found to be statistically significant as
evidence from “Z” test value is 2.83, which is greater than table value (alpha=1.96) at 0.05 level of significance. Findings
showed no significant association between the post-test knowledge score with the demographic variables; hence, the null
hypothesis was accepted and research hypothesis was rejected.
Conclusion: The study concluded that the theme- based short film was effective in improving the level of knowledge
of parents regarding youth suicide and its prevention. There is a need to develop more information materials on youth
suicide and its prevention to fill information gap and improve the knowledge.