An Exploration of Barriers to Suicide Prevention Messaging With US Veterans

Crisis ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Karras ◽  
Brooke A. Levandowski ◽  
Janet M. McCarten

Abstract. Background: Communication campaigns offer a portable intervention to effectively reach and engage target populations at risk for suicide including US veterans. Few studies have evaluated such efforts, and still fewer have examined factors that contribute to failed suicide prevention messaging. Aims: We aimed to examine characteristics of suicide prevention messages and persuasive processes that may underlie failed communicative intervention with US veterans. Method: Telephone interviews were completed with veterans ( N = 33) from June to September 2016 using a semi-structured interview guide. Interview transcripts were coded by the authors with NVivo using a constant comparison analytic strategy. Results: Several reasons emerged for why suicide prevention messaging may fail to produce intended responses among veterans. Participants identified message features (e.g., language, images, messenger) and communication strategies that may diminish campaign effects. Limitations: Findings are not generalizable, are limited to participants who used VA healthcare and were not suicidal, and are subject to several biases. Conclusion: This work provides initial insights into barriers to effective message use with veterans.

Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnny Andoh-Arthur ◽  
Birthe Loa Knizek ◽  
Joseph Osafo ◽  
Heidi Hjelmeland

Abstract. Background: Condemnatory reactions toward suicide are prevalent in Africa, yet no study has examined how society reacts to suicides from the perspective of suicide-bereaved persons. Aims: This qualitative study explored societal reactions to suicides so as to further our understanding of the problem in Ghana. Method: Using a semi-structured interview guide, we interviewed 45 close relations of 14 men who took their lives. Results: The reactions followed ontological questions of what suicide means (construing the act), its impact (consequences), why it happened and who to blame (attributions and allocation of responsibility), and how to remedy perceived damages (damage control). Limitations: Focusing on suicides of only men might have limited the range of societal reactions to suicide in general. Conclusion: Reparative and retributive societal reactions to suicides were influenced predominantly by views that suicide is an extraordinary moral evil in the setting. Increased culturally focused suicide education can improve people's understanding and enhance responsive suicide prevention and postvention.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Supriya Shore ◽  
Candace Speight ◽  
Anita Kelkar ◽  
Divya Kishore ◽  
Neal Dickert

Abstract Background: Low patient enrollment in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) escalates costs, leads to under-representation of real-world patient populations, and delays generation of knowledge. Limited data exists on why patients decline participation in RCTs and what factors may lead to increased participation rates. Methods: In-person and telephone interviews were conducted with 19 patients with congestive heart failure who declined participation in RCTs. Interviews were conducted using a structured interview guide. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and qualitative descriptive analysis was performed. Results: Participants’ median age was 63 years (IQR 51.5-69), 42% were female, and 53% were Black or African-American. Only 6 participants could accurately describe the intervention and clearly understood design of the trial in which they were asked to participate. Most participants made the decision not to participate quickly; only 1 participant took time to deliberate. The most common reasons for not participating were concern for adverse events from the intervention being studied (n=15) and perception of participation being too burdensome (n=10). The most common suggestion provided to increase participant recruitment was involving primary care physicians or cardiologists known to the patients. Conclusion: These findings suggest that patients often decide not to participate in clinical trials quickly, with relatively minimal understanding of the trial. Reasons for declining were heterogeneous, but the most common suggestions for improvement were engaging physicians known to them in the process of recruitment and making participation less burdensome. Addressing these issues may reduce barriers to participation and enhance respect for patients.


2021 ◽  
pp. 263501062110279
Author(s):  
Mary A. Steinhardt ◽  
Sharon A. Brown ◽  
H. Matthew Lehrer ◽  
Susan K. Dubois ◽  
Jaylen I. Wright ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this substudy was to determine the most acceptable way to restart the Texas Strength Through Resilience in Diabetes Education (TX STRIDE) study safely using remote technologies. Following the emergence of COVID-19, all in-person TX STRIDE intervention and data collection sessions were paused. Methods Qualitative descriptive methods using telephone interviews were conducted during the research pause. A structured interview guide was developed to facilitate data collection and coding. Forty-seven of 59 Cohort 1 participants were interviewed (mean age = 60.7 years; 79% female; mean time diagnosed with type 2 diabetes = 11 years). Results Data categories and subcategories were generated from the interview responses and included: personal experiences with COVID-19, effects of COVID-19 on diabetes self-management, psychosocial and financial effects of COVID-19, and recommendations for program restart. Although some participants lacked technological knowledge, they expressed eagerness to learn how to use remote meeting platforms to resume intervention and at-home data-collection sessions. Six months after the in-person intervention was paused, TX STRIDE restarted remotely with data collection and class sessions held via Zoom. A majority of participants (72.9%) transitioned to the virtual platform restart. Conclusions Qualitative findings guided the appropriate implementation of technology for the study, which facilitated a successful restart. High retention of participants through the study transition provides evidence that participants are invested in learning how to manage their diabetes despite the challenges and distractions imposed by COVID-19.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Fernando Ledesma Perez ◽  
Maria Caycho Avalos ◽  
Juana Cruz Montero ◽  
Andrea Ayala Sandoval

Citizenship is the exercise of the fundamental rights of people in spaces of participation, opinion and commitments, which can not be violated by any health condition in which the individual is. This research aims to interpret the process of construction of citizenship in hospitalized children, was developed through the qualitative approach, ethnomethodological method, synchronous design, with a sample of three students hospitalized in a health institute specializing in childhood, was used Observation technique and a semi-structured interview guide were obtained as results that hospitalized children carry out their citizenship construction in an incipient way, through the communication interaction they make with other people in the environment where they grow up.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan C Cheruiyot ◽  
Petra Brysiewicz

This study explores and describes caring and uncaring nursing encounters from the perspective of the patients admitted to inpatient rehabilitation settings in South Africa. The researchers used an exploratory descriptive design. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data through individual interviews with 17 rehabilitation patients. Content analysis allowed for the analysis of textual data. Five categories of nursing encounters emerged from the analysis: noticing and acting, and being there for you emerged as categories of caring nursing encounters, and being ignored, being a burden, and deliberate punishment emerged as categories of uncaring nursing encounters. Caring nursing encounters make patients feel important and that they are not alone in the rehabilitation journey, while uncaring nursing encounters makes the patients feel unimportant and troublesome to the nurses. Caring nursing encounters give nurses an opportunity to notice and acknowledge the existence of vulnerability in the patients and encourage them to be present at that moment, leading to empowerment. Uncaring nursing encounters result in patients feeling devalued and depersonalised, leading to discouragement. It is recommended that nurses strive to develop personal relationships that promote successful nursing encounters. Further, nurses must strive to minimise the patients’ feelings of guilt and suffering, and to make use of tools, for example the self-perceived scale, to measure this. Nurses must also perform role plays on how to handle difficult patients such as confused, demanding and rude patients in the rehabilitation settings.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002076402098419
Author(s):  
Kwamina Abekah-Carter ◽  
George Ofosu Oti

Background: Homelessness among people with mental illness has grown to become a common phenomenon in many developed and developing countries. Just like in any other country, the living conditions of homeless people with mental illness in Ghana are unwholesome. Despite the increased population of these vulnerable individuals on the streets, not much is known about the perspectives of the general public towards this phenomenon in Ghana. Aim: This research was conducted to explore the perspectives of community members on homeless people with mental illness. The main study objectives were (a) to find out the impacts of the presence of persons with mental illness on the streets and (b) to ascertain the reasons accounting for homelessness among persons with mental illness. Method: Utilizing a qualitative research design, twenty community members were sampled from selected suburbs in Nsawam and interviewed with the use of a semi-structured interview guide. The audio data gathered from the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Results: Majority of the participants asserted that homeless people with mental illness had no access to good food, shelter, and health care. They further stated that some homeless people with mental illness perpetrated physical and sexual violence against the residents. Moreover, the participants believed that persons with mental illness remained on the streets due to neglect by their family members, and limited access to psychiatric services. Conclusion: This paper concludes by recommending to government to make mental health services accessible and affordable to homeless persons with mental illness nationwide.


Author(s):  
Dwi Wahi/udiati ◽  
Hari Sutrisno ◽  
Isana Supiah YL

The objective of this research was to investigate the level of students' attitudes toward Chemistry and Learning Experience (ATCLE). The research sample included 191 students (61 male and 130 female) from three universities; Universitas Negeri Mataram, Universitas Islam Negeri Mataram, and IK1P Mataram, Indonesia. The sample has been selected through cluster random sampling and snowballs random sampling. Mixed method research with a descriptive correlational survey model and a semi-structured interview was employed for the study. The data were collected by Chemistry Attitudes and Experiences Questionnaire (CAEQ) and an interview guide. Results showed no significant correlation in the level of attitude toward chemistry based on gender and grades. The finding also revealed that the attitude of pre-service chemistry teachers based on gender and grade were more positive towards research in chemistry than jobs related to chemistry. However, grades influenced the students learning experience, but there was no influence of gender on students learning experience. It is suggested that teachers need to develop a positive attitude toward chemistry and learning experiences of the students through inquiry-based learning practices.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clement Boakye Danquah ◽  
Alex Acheampong ◽  
Theophilus Adjei-Kumi

Purpose In the Ghanaian construction industry (GCI), the option for stakeholders to adopt formwork design as a building construction requirement is uncommon place. This is due to the low level of awareness and practice of formwork design. As a result of this, there have been formwork accidents, cost and time overruns in construction. This paper aims to solicit the view of stakeholders on the awareness of formwork design practices in the GCI. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopted the interpretivism research philosophy and inductive reasoning. Through a semi-structured interview guide, data was collected. The data (interview) recorded was transcribed using the Amberscript web application. This study used thematic analysis in analyzing the data collected using Nvivo 10 software. Findings The data collected from the 22 professionals indicated that the respondents were unaware of the concept of formwork design and its practice, neither could they speak to the existence of any specific regulation nor code of practice. However, the respondents established that there was a need to design formwork and stated some benefits of it. Originality/value From the literature, little research has been done on formwork design and its context in the GCI is yet to be explored. This research attempts to fill this gap. The findings indicate that to practice formwork design, there must be education and training of human resources for formwork design, there must be a code of practice to guide the design process and legal backing through policies and regulations to mandate the design.


2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 212-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flávia de Lima Osório ◽  
José Alexandre de Souza Crippa ◽  
Sonia Regina Loureiro

OBJECTIVE: To present the translation and validation of the Brief Social Phobia Scale for use in Brazilian Portuguese, to develop a structured interview guide in order to systemize its use and to perform a preliminary study of inter-rater reliability. METHOD: The instrument was translated and adapted to Portuguese by specialists in anxiety disorders and rating scales. A structured interview guide was created with the aim of covering all of the items of the instrument and grouping them into six categories. Specialists in mental health evaluated the guide. These professionals also watched the videotaped interviews of patients with and without social anxiety disorders, and, based on the interview guide, they rated the scale to evaluate its reliability. RESULTS: No semantic or linguistic adjustments were needed. For the complete scale, the general evaluation showed a percentage of agreement of 0.84 and intraclass coefficient of 0.91. The mean inter-rater correlation was 0.84. CONCLUSIONS: The Portuguese-language version of the Brief Social Phobia Scale is available for use in the Brazilian population, with rather acceptable indicators of inter-rater reliability. The interview guide was useful in providing these values. Further studies are needed in order to improve the reliability and to study other psychometric properties of the instrument.


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