The aim of this paper was to review the literature on suicide ideation and intent in Malaysia. PsyINFO, PubMed, Medline databases from 1845 to 2012 and detailed manual search of local official reports from Ministry of Health, Malaysian Psychiatric Association and unpublished dissertations from 3 local universities providing postgraduate psychiatric training, were included in the current review. A total of 13 studies on suicide ideation and intent in Malaysia were found and reviewed. The review showed that research on suicide ideation and intent in Malaysia was fragmented and limited, at best. Approximately 50% of existing research on suicide ideation and intent simply focused on sociodemographic data. Fifty-four percent of the data were obtained from hospitals. No study has been conducted on treatment and interventions for suicide ideation and intent. None of the studies used validated suicide scales. The impact of culture was rarely considered. It was clear from the review that for researchers, clinicians and public health policy makers to gain a better understanding of suicide behavior especially suicide ideation and intent in Malaysia, more systematic and empirically stringent methodologies and research frameworks need to be used.
The Reasons For Living Inventory has been shown to have good psychometric properties in Western populations for the past three decades. The present study examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of English and Malay version of the Reasons For Living (RFL) Inventory in a sample of clinical outpatients in Malaysia. The RFL is designed to assess an individual's various reasons for not committing suicide. A total of 483 participants (283 with psychiatric illnesses and 200 with non-psychiatric medical illnesses) completed the RFL and other self-report instruments. Results of the EFA (exploratory factor analysis) and CFA (confirmatory factor analysis) supported the fit for the six-factor oblique model as the best-fitting model. The internal consistency of the RFL was α=.94 and it was found to be high with good concurrent, criterion and discriminative validities. Thus, the RFL is a reliable and valid instrument to measure the various reasons for not committing suicide among psychiatry and medical outpatients in Malaysia.
Study site: Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM)
The present study evaluated the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) in a sample of clinical outpatients in Malaysia. The SWLS is a measure designed to assess subjective life satisfaction. Four hundred eighty-three participants (283 with psychiatric illnesses and 200 with other medical illnesses) completed the SWLS and other self-report instruments. Results of the EFA and CFA supported the fit for the one-factor model as the best-fitting model. The internal consistency of the SWLS (α=0.86) was found to be high. Correlational analyses showed that SWLS had adequate concurrent validity. Scores on SWLS, which differentiated psychiatric patients and medical patients, supported criterion validity. The logistic regression analyses showed good discriminative validity of SWLS. The SWLS is a reliable and valid instrument to measure the satisfaction with life among psychiatry and clinical outpatients in Malaysia.
Study site: medical and psychiatric clinics, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia