Self-compassion and depression on suicidal Ideation among sexually assaulted Internally displaced Women

Abstract

There are limited studies on the interaction between self-compassion, depression and suicidal ideation, especially among internally displaced women who have been sexually abused in north eastern Nigeria. In light of this, the impact of self-compassion and depression on suicidal ideation was therefore examined among this population. One hundred and eighty-one (N= 181) IDP women were randomly drawn from two camps in Maiduguri. The participants' average age was 32.5 years (SD= 8.8). A 2 x 2 factorial design was used for the research. The Neff's Self-compassion Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation were used to measure the variables in this study. This study shows that depression has a major impact on suicidal ideation [F (1, 177) = 8.581, p = 0.004]. However, there was no significant main effect of self-compassion on suicidal ideation [F (1, 177) = 0.904, p = 0.343], and there was no interaction effect of depression and self-compassion on suicide ideation [F (1, 177) = 0.076, p = 0.783]. It is crucial to recognise depressive symptoms early to mitigate any forms of suicidal thoughts and ideas among sexually assaulted women. The study recommended that suicide prevention and intervention programmes should focus on identifying early stages of depression and identifying clues to suicide.