Relationship Between Delusional Disorder and Suicidal Ideation of Public Senior Secondary School Students in Nasarawa State

Abstract

The study investigated relationship between delusional disorder and suicidal ideation of Public Senior
Secondary School Students in Nasarawa State. Two research questions, two objectives and two
hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Adopted correlation research design. The population of the
study comprised of 21,875 SS2 students in 23 Public Secondary School Students of Nasarawa State. A
total of 1,340 SS2 students were selected using cluster sampling technique. A questionnaire tagged
delusional disorder and suicidal ideation questionnaire (DEDASIQ) was developed for the purpose of data
collection. The questionnaire was subjected to validation by experts and the outcome yielded an index of
0.88. The instrument was further subjected to pilot study in order to ascertain its reliability. Cronbach alpha
method was then used to compute the score obtained from the pilot study thereby yielding a reliability index
of 0.80. Data was collected, transformed and analyzed using person’s product moment correlation. The
findings of the study reveal that there is a significant relationship between somatic disorder and suicidal
ideation of Public Senior Secondary Schools in Nasarawa State and there is a significant relationship
between erotomantic disorder and suicidal ideation of Public Senior Secondary Schools in Nasarawa State.
The study recommended that management of schools in collaboration with parents should subject leaners
with somatic cases to clinical treatment as well rigorous sessions counseling therapy so that thoughts of
attempting to commit suicide can be eliminated from their minds. It further that recommended guidance and
counseling services should be revived in schools and professional school counselors be recruited for the
purpose of addressing cases erotomantic disorder. This will help in reducing cases of suicide.