A Matter of Life or Death: a review of the evidence supporting an association between social capital and rates of suicide in Canadian Inuit communities ...

• Main Authors: Kemp, Beverly, McRae, Katelyn
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: My University 2016
• Subjects: Northwest Territories; Nunavut; inuit
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-514; https://ruor.uottawa.ca/handle/10393/35556

Canadian Inuit include ~55,000 inhabitants in parts of Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. The rate of suicide in these communities is 135 for every 100 000 individuals - 12 times the Canadian average and one of the highest in the world.1 This structured review explores the existing evidence supporting an association between social capital and rates of suicide amongst Canadian Inuit. Initially, a search strategy was developed using the terms “suicide”, and “Inuit” in the PubMed (Medline), Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The final search procured nine relevant references. The research emphasizes suicide as a stressor within Inuit population. Social capital contributes to risk factors including, unemployment, being single, legal problems, abuse history, and a record of mental illness. The mean age of suicide is 23.41 with 82.5% being male2. Within individuals 15-24, 45% have had suicidal thoughts in their lifetime, and 15% had attempted suicide in the past year3. Those experiencing ...