Impulsivity and psychosocial determinants in patients with attempted suicide by poisoning: a mixed-methods study
Abstract
Suicide claims more than 720,000 lives each year, and self-poisoning is among the most common methods seen in emergency departments (EDs). Impulsivity is a well-recognized risk factor for suicidal behavior, yet how impulsive traits combine with psychosocial stressors in patients who poison themselves has rarely been examined with both quantitative and qualitative data. We therefore characterized impulsivity, psychological distress, and their contributing factors in patients treated in the ED after attempted suicide by poisoning, and explored how these patients experienced the suicidal process itself.
We used a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design. The quantitative component was a cross-sectional survey conducted between January and December 2025 among 155 patients who presented with deliberate self-poisoning at three tertiary EDs, using a demographic questionnaire, the Nurses’ Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR), the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 (GAD-2), the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11). Binary logistic regression identified independent predictors. For the qualitative component, purposive sampling yielded 10 participants for semi-structured in-depth interviews, and transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Quantitatively, 71.6% of participants were classified as low suicide risk, 26.5% as moderate risk, and 1.9% as high risk, while 12.3% reported…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cross-sectional, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 10 participants or records.
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