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Abstract
Suicide is a serious public health problem, which seems to be increasing both internationally and in Spain. It is a complex phenomenon, with multifactorial etiology, which has been extensively studied with epidemiological and descriptive approaches, to identify risk and protection indicators that help prevent it, implementing effective interventions. Assuming that people who commit suicide do not form a homogeneous group, it is known that there are particular groups that have a higher incidence, so preventive strategies must be adapted to this different case mix. Furthermore, even within professions, it has been proven that suicide is not homogeneous either, with, for example, different subgroups or suicidal types being found in the military population (Griffith, 2012). Law Enforcement Agencies (police) constitute one of those special groups, due to the greater stigma related to mental health, easy access to lethal means (firearms), and constant occupational exposure to trauma (serious accidents, violence, serious abuse or death). But there are no known works that have studied whether there are different suicide profiles among agents. Here we present the first typological study that has been carried out in Spain in this regard, analyzing data from 640 Guardia Civil agents who committed suicide between 1982 and 2022. Through multiple correspondence, two-stage cluster and bivariate analysis on 16 sociodemographic, professional variables and from the event itself, three clearly differentiated groups emerged. These results are discussed for the purposes of their preventive usefulness.
References
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