A psychiatric nurse-led awareness and peer support intervention for suicide prevention among university students.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate a suicide prevention program combining awareness training and peer support among university students.

METHODS

A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design with an embedded qualitative component was conducted with 63 university students. The intervention was structured within a psychiatric nursing framework informed by Peplau's Interpersonal Relations Theory. The seven-week program comprised a baseline assessment in week 1, five weekly group-based peer support sessions (weeks 2-6), and suicide prevention awareness training followed by post-intervention assessment in week 7. Quantitative data were collected using standardized measures of hopelessness, depression, suicide probability, peer support, and suicide-related knowledge. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Compared with the control group, students in the intervention group demonstrated significant reductions in hopelessness, depression, and suicide probability scores, and significant increases in peer support and suicide-related knowledge (p < .05). Significant time×group interactions indicated that these changes were attributable to the intervention. Qualitative findings revealed enhanced awareness, empathy, supportive attitudes, and strengthened beliefs in the preventability of suicide.

CONCLUSION

Structured interventions integrating awareness training and peer support may effectively reduce suicide-related psychological risk factors and strengthen protective social mechanisms among university students. These findings support the implementation of nurse-led, peer-based preventive strategies within psychiatric nursing and campus mental health services.