Attitudes toward suicide: A comparative study between Ghanaian and Western foreign students in Ghana

This study examined the views of Ghanaian and Western Foreign University students on attitudes toward suicide as well as the interaction effects between sex and type of participants. Three hundred and forty-one Ghanaian and Western foreign University students (141 Western foreign respondents and 200 Ghanaian respondents) were selected using convenience and purposive sampling strategies respectively to respond to the attitudes toward suicide questionnaire. Independent t-test and Two-Way Analysis of Variance were used to analyse the data. It was revealed that although both groups had negative attitude towards suicide, Ghanaian individuals had significantly more. However, there was no significant difference between Ghanaian males and Western males as well as between Ghanaian females and Western females. Cultural differences and education on suicide were mainly responsible for sub-scale differences. Recommendations to non-governmental organisations, future researchers and health professionals have been discussed. Copyright © 2015 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.