The experiences of attempt survivor families and how they cope after a suicide attempt in Ghana: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Ghana’s socio-cultural landscape proscribes suicidal behaviour, and this has serious ramifications for attempt survivors and their families. The objective of this qualitative study was to understand the experiences of the families of attempt survivors and how they cope with the aftermath of the attempt. METHODS: Ten families with attempted suicides agreed to participate in the study, hence they were interviewed. The information gathered was manually analyzed according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) resulting in three major thematic areas. RESULTS: Three major themes emerged two of which addressed negative experiences and reactions towards the attempts: Experiencing shame and stigma, and Reactive affect. The third theme addressed the coping resources of these informants under the theme: Surviving the stress of attempt. The specific coping resources included personalized spiritual coping, social support, and avoidance. CONCLUSIONS: Family systems theory is used to explain some of the findings of this study, and the implication for clinical practice and designing postvention programs for families after a suicide attempt are addressed. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1336-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.