Cargando…

Parents’ Experiences of Suicide-Bereavement: A Qualitative Study at 6 and 12 Months after Loss

The death of a child by suicide is a severe trauma, placing parents at greater risk of psychological morbidity and physical health problems compared to other causes of death. However, few studies have examined the aftermath and bereavement experience for parents following the death of a child to sui...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ross, Victoria, Kõlves, Kairi, Kunde, Lisa, De Leo, Diego
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5923660/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29597297
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040618
_version_ 1783318394580238336
author Ross, Victoria
Kõlves, Kairi
Kunde, Lisa
De Leo, Diego
author_facet Ross, Victoria
Kõlves, Kairi
Kunde, Lisa
De Leo, Diego
author_sort Ross, Victoria
collection PubMed
description The death of a child by suicide is a severe trauma, placing parents at greater risk of psychological morbidity and physical health problems compared to other causes of death. However, few studies have examined the aftermath and bereavement experience for parents following the death of a child to suicide, limiting the ability to guide effective postvention services through empirical research. The current study, which was part of a larger longitudinal investigation of suicide bereavement in Queensland, Australia, examined the individual experiences of both mothers and fathers bereaved by suicide over time, specifically at the six month and 12 month time points after their loss. Bereaved parents who had provided written consent to be contacted for research purposes were identified through the Queensland Suicide Register, and took part in individual, semi-structured interviews. Generic qualitative analysis identified three key themes: searching for answers and sense-making, coping strategies and support, and finding meaning and purpose. Some participants showed indications of meaning-making and post-traumatic growth at 12 months after the suicide. According to the dual process model of bereavement, it is likely that participants were still oscillating between sense-making and meaning making, indicating that adapting to bereavement is a dynamic and fluctuating process.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5923660
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-59236602018-05-03 Parents’ Experiences of Suicide-Bereavement: A Qualitative Study at 6 and 12 Months after Loss Ross, Victoria Kõlves, Kairi Kunde, Lisa De Leo, Diego Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The death of a child by suicide is a severe trauma, placing parents at greater risk of psychological morbidity and physical health problems compared to other causes of death. However, few studies have examined the aftermath and bereavement experience for parents following the death of a child to suicide, limiting the ability to guide effective postvention services through empirical research. The current study, which was part of a larger longitudinal investigation of suicide bereavement in Queensland, Australia, examined the individual experiences of both mothers and fathers bereaved by suicide over time, specifically at the six month and 12 month time points after their loss. Bereaved parents who had provided written consent to be contacted for research purposes were identified through the Queensland Suicide Register, and took part in individual, semi-structured interviews. Generic qualitative analysis identified three key themes: searching for answers and sense-making, coping strategies and support, and finding meaning and purpose. Some participants showed indications of meaning-making and post-traumatic growth at 12 months after the suicide. According to the dual process model of bereavement, it is likely that participants were still oscillating between sense-making and meaning making, indicating that adapting to bereavement is a dynamic and fluctuating process. MDPI 2018-03-28 2018-04 /pmc/articles/PMC5923660/ /pubmed/29597297 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040618 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Ross, Victoria
Kõlves, Kairi
Kunde, Lisa
De Leo, Diego
Parents’ Experiences of Suicide-Bereavement: A Qualitative Study at 6 and 12 Months after Loss
title Parents’ Experiences of Suicide-Bereavement: A Qualitative Study at 6 and 12 Months after Loss
title_full Parents’ Experiences of Suicide-Bereavement: A Qualitative Study at 6 and 12 Months after Loss
title_fullStr Parents’ Experiences of Suicide-Bereavement: A Qualitative Study at 6 and 12 Months after Loss
title_full_unstemmed Parents’ Experiences of Suicide-Bereavement: A Qualitative Study at 6 and 12 Months after Loss
title_short Parents’ Experiences of Suicide-Bereavement: A Qualitative Study at 6 and 12 Months after Loss
title_sort parents’ experiences of suicide-bereavement: a qualitative study at 6 and 12 months after loss
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5923660/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29597297
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040618
work_keys_str_mv AT rossvictoria parentsexperiencesofsuicidebereavementaqualitativestudyat6and12monthsafterloss
AT kolveskairi parentsexperiencesofsuicidebereavementaqualitativestudyat6and12monthsafterloss
AT kundelisa parentsexperiencesofsuicidebereavementaqualitativestudyat6and12monthsafterloss
AT deleodiego parentsexperiencesofsuicidebereavementaqualitativestudyat6and12monthsafterloss