Engelsk titel: Experiences of the bereaved in connection with the suicide of young men
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Författare:
Rasmussen, Mette Lyberg
;
Dieserud, Gudrun
Email: mette.lyberg.rasmussen@fhi.no
Språk: Nor
Antal referenser: 17
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 18020354
Sammanfattning
BACKGROUND: Each year, an average of 110 men under the age of 35 take their lives in Norway. Few receive health assistance in the period prior to the suicide. There is little existing research on contact with help services for those who take their lives, other than studies of the number of visits to doctors prior to death. The purpose of this study was to acquire information about the needs of family and friends for help from the health service, both to enable them to detect risk of suicide and to motivate those at risk to seek help in their life crises.
MATERIAL AND METHOD: A total of 61 in-depth interviews with close relatives and friends of young male suicides (aged 18–30 years) were analysed by means of interpretative phenomenological analysis.
RESULTS: The bereaved found the generally accepted assumption that suicide is due to mental illness an obstacle to identifying the risk of suicide. Most of the bereaved had not seen any signs of mental illness prior to the suicide. The suicide crisis was linked to relational factors. Bereaved individuals who had suspected a risk of suicide, found that urging the suicidal person to seek health assistance was not enough. Measures proposed included acquiring more knowledge about suicide and the provision of outreach health assistance.
INTERPRETATION: The findings challenge the current prevention model. Both healthcare personnel and the general public should be better informed that mental illness is neither a sufficient nor a necessary factor for explaining suicide, even though a higher risk of suicide is linked to some mental disorders.