scholarly journals Crucial resources to strengthen the desire to live

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Vatne ◽  
Dagfinn Nåden

Background: Suicidality is a life-and-death struggle in deep loneliness and psychological pain. There is a lack of knowledge about what could help the suicidal patients’ struggle for continued life. The aim of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of suicidal patients in the aftermath of suicidal attempts. The research question was ‘What resources in the person himself or herself and his or her surroundings are crucial in a suicidal crisis to maintaining the will to live and hope for life’? Methodology: The study has a hermeneutic approach and an explorative design. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 10 participants: men and women 21–52 years of age. The context was two emergency psychiatric units and one crisis resolution team. Ethical considerations: The participants signed an informed consent before the interviews were conducted. Findings: This article presents three themes: (a) becoming aware of the desire to live, (b) an experience of connectedness and (c) someone who cares. Discussion: The suicidal person’s awareness of wishes, dreams, hopes and will, but also of their feelings in the aftermath of the suicide attempt, seemed to play a crucial role in a suicidal crisis. Experiences of connectedness remind the person of the responsibility in his or her own life and in the lives of others and seemed to strengthen the urge to go on. Private and professional relationships seem to be crucial in stimulating the desire and hope to go on living. Conclusion: Becoming aware of the desire to live, being connected to others and experiencing someone who cares is necessary for life. Both private and professional networks seemed to be important resources that could remind the suicidal person of his or her own dignity as part of being human.

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 444-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Vatne ◽  
Dagfinn Nåden

Background: Suffering in a suicidal crisis includes feelings such as despair, loneliness, anxiety, fear, shame, guilt and hopelessness. This study highlights the experiences of patients in the aftermath of suicide attempts. The research question was, what do suicidal patients see as meaningful help in care and treatment situations? Methodology: The methodology is inspired by Gadamer’s hermeneutics, where the parts are understood in light of the whole, and the whole is understood in light of the parts. Qualitative interviews were employed. Participants and research context: A total of 10 persons, 4 women and 6 men 21–52 years old, were informed and asked to participate by specialists in psychology at two emergency psychiatric wards and by one crisis resolution team. Nine of the participants had experienced one or more suicide attempts using drugs and alcohol. Forced hospitalization prevented one of the 10 participants from attempting suicide. Ethical considerations: Before the participants signed an informed consent form, the interviewer met all participants to provide the written information, talking about the interview. A meeting to terminate contact was arranged after the participants had read their own interviews. Findings: Three themes were generated by the methodology we applied: (1) experiencing hope through encounters, (2) experiencing hope through the atmosphere of wisdom and (3) experiencing a ray of hope from taking back responsibility. Discussion: The findings are discussed in the light of Eriksson’s suffering theory and Lindström’s theory about psychiatric care, as well as earlier research and theories about suicidality. Conclusion: The study reinforces possibilities that hope in suicidal patients can be inspired in encounters with healthcare personnel and within caring cultures. Through dialogue and cooperation, patients’ safety and ability to cope with suffering is created and thereby the hope and will to struggle for life.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e040088
Author(s):  
Siv Hilde Berg ◽  
Kristine Rørtveit ◽  
Fredrik A. Walby ◽  
Karina Aase

AimThe aim of this study was to explore suicidal patients’ experiences of safe clinical practice during hospitalisation in mental health wards. The study was guided by the following research question: How do suicidal patients experience safe clinical practice during hospitalisation in mental health wards?Design, setting and participantsA qualitative design with semistructured individual interviews was applied. Eighteen patients hospitalised with suicidal behaviour in specialised mental health wards for adults at a Norwegian hospital participated in the study. Data were analysed thematically and inductively using qualitative content analysis.ResultsPatients in a suicidal crisis experienced safe clinical care in mental health wards characterised by the following three themes: (1) being recognised as suicidal, (2) receiving tailor-made treatment and (3) being protected by adaptive practice.ConclusionThis study illuminates the experiences of safe clinical practice for patients in a suicidal crisis. The patient group was multifaceted, with variable experiences of how safe clinical practice affected their subjective experience of safety and suicidal behaviour. The finding highlights the importance of embracing personalised activities in all parts of safe clinical practice and to recognise rather than efface patients’ variability in patient safety efforts.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Rant ◽  
Branko Bregar

Introduction: Since it is almost impossible to identify every suicidal person, the timely intervention of an emergency medical team is of the most importance for preventing suicide attempts. Yet its success depends not only on timely help, but also on the treatment of the suicidal individual, the quality of which is to a large degree determined by the attitudes of the paramedics to the suicide. Hence, this article addresses the issue of how Slovenian paramedics experience suicidal patients, or in other words, what their attitudes to suicidal patients are when treating them. Methods: This study is based on a descriptive qualitative method of empirical research, in which inductive analysis has been used. To collect the empirical material, semi-structured interviews with ten paramedics were conducted between December 2012 and January 2013. Results: Despite their professional conduct in working with suicidal patients, Slovenian paramedics often experience various unpleasant emotions while treating them. Although they show understanding, the paramedics are often caught in dilemma while treating suicidal patients, especially those that refuse help or are aggressive. During the treatment, the paramedics act according to their subjective risk assessment and previous work experience, yet they lack the expertise to work with suicidal patients, particularly communication skills. Discussion and conclusion: The attitude of the participants to suicidal patients is based primarily on the emotional aspect of their work. The research showed that a negative attitude may appear, but is not permanent. It appears only in certain conditions when caring for patients who are aggressive or threaten others and when the participants have not received help from other services.


2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Richman

This article discusses the role of the family in the origins of a suicidal state, and its role in resolving the suicidal crisis, especially when family therapy is available. Death wishes, homicidal ideation, and suicide pact-and-suicide-murder ideation, are present far more frequently than is commonly realized. They all contain a constructive potential in the presence of a competent and experienced therapist. Success in therapy includes a knowledge of how to deal with the communication of suicidal impulses by the suicidal person, the family's communication of feeling burdened and fed up, and the venting of rage. Treatment is based upon the understanding that suicide is a process that is frequently handed down from one generation to the next, and includes several generations at one time. These considerations are illustrated by case examples, mostly from the experiences of the writer, demonstrating how destructive interactions can be transformed into life affirming ones.


Mousaion ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samson Mutsagondo ◽  
Getrude Maduyu ◽  
Godfrey Tsvuura

This paper discusses the challenges of records management that arise from the use of adapted buildings as records centres in Zimbabwe, despite the advantages of using such buildings. A qualitative research approach was used as well as a case study research design. Data were collected from seven officers of the Gweru Records Centre through semi-structured interviews. Personal observation was used to triangulate findings from interviews. It was found that the use of adapted buildings as records centres was a cheaper and quicker way of establishing records centres throughout the country. However, a number of preservation, security and management challenges cropped up as the conditions of the buildings and the environment of the adapted buildings were not conducive to the proper and professional management of records. This study is important in that it explores the prospects and challenges of using adapted buildings as records centres in Zimbabwe, an area that has not been researched by many authors. This provokes archival authorities and the government to seriously consider establishing purpose-built records and archival centres.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692110161
Author(s):  
Krista Johnston ◽  
Christiana MacDougall

Reporting on the development of an ongoing qualitative research project with clients of midwifery care in New Brunswick, Canada, this article details the ways that methodology is complexly interwoven with political praxis. Working through the development of this project, this article models one way to enact politically engaged feminist research at each stage of the research process, from developing the research question, through research design, data collection, analysis, and theory generation. In the process, three core principles of feminist research methodologies are extended: co-construction of knowledge, researcher reflexivity, and reciprocal relationships in research. This research is caught up in and responds to a fraught political context where supports for reproductive healthcare are limited, and midwifery, abortion, and gender-affirming care are all framed as “fringe” services that exceed the austerity budget of the province. Participants engaged in this study with a clear understanding of this political terrain and approached interviews as an opportunity to share their experiences, and to advocate for the continuation and expansion of midwifery and related services in the province. Through the research process, it has become evident that midwifery must be understood as part of the struggle toward reproductive justice in this province. These reflections will direct further stages of the project, including ongoing research and dissemination.


2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052198985
Author(s):  
Sally Marsden ◽  
Cathy Humphreys ◽  
Kelsey Hegarty

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex and multifaceted problem gaining increasing attention within mental health research and practice. IPV explanations focus on both individual and systemic levels; however, it is increasingly acknowledged that a single level explanation may not be sufficient. The practices of clinical disciplines may, however, still privilege an explanation at one level over another, which will influence how they work with clients. It is likely that one such clinical group, psychologists, may play a critical role in helping victim-survivors to understand and explain their experiences of IPV. However, we were unable to find any studies focusing on women’s perceptions of psychologists’ role in this. Additionally, we know little about women victim-survivors’ perceptions of why their partners use IPV. To address these gaps, the research question for this study was: What explanations resonate during counseling for women in understanding their partner’s abuse? To explore this question, 20 women who had seen psychologists after experiencing IPV participated in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and three themes constructed from the data. The first two themes, narcissist description was helpful and not all bad all the time, showed that the women found it powerful in their healing processes when psychologists offered the opportunity to discuss their partners individual characteristics as explanations for their use of IPV. The third theme, structural explanations, showed that some of the women also reflected on wider structural contexts. Implications for clinical practice include the potential healing effect when practitioners can move along a continuum of explanation levels, covering both the inner and outer worlds. Implications for research into IPV perpetration are that women hold expertise and insight into individual perpetrators and could make valuable contributions to this field.


Author(s):  
Sean A R St. Jean ◽  
Brian Rasmussen ◽  
Judy Gillespie ◽  
Daniel Salhani

Abstract Child protection workers are routinely faced with emotionally intense work, both personally and vicariously through the traumatic narratives and experiences of parents and children. What remains largely unknown is how child protection workers’ own childhood memories might influence the manner in which they experience and are affected by those narratives. The aim of this explorative study was to use Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis as a research methodology to answer the research question, ‘In what ways do social workers experience, and make sense of, their own childhood memories in the context of their child protection practice?’ Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight child protection workers, aiming to understand their personal and professional experiences with regard to this question. The study found a relationship between various forms of childhood adversity and the presence of negative present-day triggers when participants were faced with practice scenarios that bore similarity to those experiences. Implications with regard to child protection worker well-being, countertransference and risk decision-making are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 31-52
Author(s):  
Grazia Dicuonzo ◽  
Francesca Donofrio ◽  
Antonio Fusco ◽  
Vittorio Dell’Atti

This paper investigates the digitalization challenges facing the Italian healthcare system. The aim of the paper is to support healthcare organizations as they take advantage of the potential of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to promote sustainable healthcare systems. Both the development of innovative processes in the management of health care activities and the introduction of healthcare forecasting systems are valuable resources for clinical and care activities and enable a more efficient use of inputs in essential-level care delivery. By examining an innovative project developed by the Regional Social Health Agency (ARSS) of Veneto, this study analyses the impact of big data and AI on the sustainability of a healthcare system. In order to answer the research question, we used a case study methodology. We conducted semi-structured interviews with key members of the organizational group involved in the case. The results show that the implementation of AI algorithms based on big data in healthcare both improves the interpretation and processing of data, and reduces the time frame necessary for clinical processes, having a positive effect on sustainability.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-96
Author(s):  
Barbara Russell ◽  
◽  
Gloria R L Slater ◽  

This case study reports on the findings from one of nine tertiary institutions that took part in a project funded by the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) in New Zealand. The research question explored how institutional and non institutional learning environments influence student engagement with learning in a higher education, university setting. Data was collected initially by means of a questionnaire; subsequently more in-depth data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with students randomly selected from those who indicated, on the questionnaire, that they were willing to be interviewed. Respondents were enrolled for the first time in this institution, but not necessarily for the first time in a tertiary education programme. A conceptual model with four strands: motivation and agency; transactional engagement; institutional support and active citizenship was used to organise the data. Findings were analysed against a synthesis of current literature and suggest that factors identified in the first three strands of the conceptual model played a significant role in student engagement with learning; active citizenship, however, did not feature highly in student responses and is an aspect of engagement that could benefit from further research.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document