DELIBERATE SELF-POISONING, UNEMPLOYMENT, AND PUBLIC-HEALTH

The purpose of the present investigation was to explore further the kn own relationship between deliberate self-poisoning and social deprivat ion. Each individual who attended one of Cork city's three casualty de partments following an act of deliberate self-poisoning in 1988 was ex amined. The place of residence (ward) of each city resident patient wa s established. The social status of the city's 34 wards was estimated using a number of indices obtained from the 1981 and 1986 census repor ts and social service records. A comparison was made between the 1988 self-poisoning rate for each ward and the rate found in a 1982 study o f the city. Correlations between self-poisoning rate and seven social deprivation indices were found to be significant. Multiple regression, factor, and partial correlation analyses were carried out to examine more closely the interrelationships between the social deprivation ind ices. With respect to explaining the variation in the self-poisoning r ate, unemployment alone performed almost as well as all of the indices together and as well as the factors derived using factor analysis. Th e correlation between unemployment and self-poisoning rate remained hi ghly significant when the other related variables were controlled for. However, at fixed levels of unemployment, these variables were found to be independent of the self-poisoning rate. It is suggested that whe reas clinical intervention may benefit the individual, deliberate self -poisoning as an issue requires a public health approach for its resol ution.