https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4956-6326
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ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s, suicide has been a major public health issue in Greenland. The World Health Organization has emphasised the importance of the identification of both risk and protective factors in relation to suicide. The aim of this paper was to identify scientific literature on risk and protective factors for suicide and suicidal behaviour among Greenland Inuit. Searches in PubMed and PsycInfo resulted in 420 studies that were screened by three of the authors. After screening, the authors included 15 studies that were subject to quality assessment and data extraction. All 15 studies reported on risk factors, and only three mentioned protective factors. Most reported risk factors were on an individual level and were related to socioeconomic status, mental health, alcohol and substance use, and life stress. Risk factors related to the family mainly related to adverse childhood experiences, while the community level concerned access to education, work, and conflicts. The results indicate a large knowledge gap about protective factors for suicide and suicidal behaviour. The few protective factors reported were related to men having a family, high socioeconomic status, and being born between 1901 and 1950.
Acknowledgments
The study was financed as a part of a PhD project by the Ministry of Education and Research – Danish State Funds for Arctic Research and a faculty scholarship by the University of Southern Denmark. The funding bodies played no role in the study design, data collection, analyses, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Ethical considerations
The study is part of a PhD project and was approved by two institutional boards in Greenland and in Denmark. In Greenland, the project has been approved by the Committee of Research Ethics in Greenland (KVUG 2018–16). In Denmark, the study is approved by the legal services of the University of Southern Denmark, notification number 11.266. The author group consists of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars who are part of a research group grounded in the Greenlandic community.