Bereavement after Suicide—How Far Have We Come and Where Do We Go from Here?

Clark, Sheila

doi:10.1027//0227-5910.22.3.102

Cited by 59 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Although not tested, the advantages of the SIDS parents might therefore be the result of 15 years of systematic work of the National SIDS Society in Norway in improving psychosocial support for their members. The great importance of the bereaved being counseled and informed after traumatic death has been pointed out by several reports (Amaya-Jackson et al, 1999;Clark, 2001;Dyregrov, 1990a;Murphy et al, 1998;Murray et al, 2000).…”

Section: Why Do Sids Parents Have Fewer Problems?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of Psychosocial Distress After Suicide, Sids and Accidents

2003

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This article compares the outcome and predictors of psychosocial distress of parents bereaved by young suicides, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and child accidents. One objective is to explore whether suicide bereavement is more difficult for those left behind than other forms of bereavement. Data have been collected from 140 families, consisting of 232 parents, by the use of the Impact of Event Scale, the General Health Questionnaire, and the Inventory of Traumatic Grief. Qualitative aspects of bereavement are assessed by in-depth interviews with family members from 40 families. The results show that the similarities between the samples on outcome and predictors are more striking than the differences, which is explained by the common traumatic aspect of unexpected and violent deaths. One and a half years post-loss, 57-78% of the survivors scored above the cut-off levels for traumatic grief reactions. Although no significant differences are found between survivors of suicide and accidents, both groups evidence significantly greater subjective distress than the survivors of SIDS. Self-isolation is by far the best predictor of psychosocial distress in all three samples. Rather than focusing on the exceptional position of suicide survivors, it seems important to call attention to sudden and traumatic death in general as a factor to be associated with post-traumatic reactions and complicated mourning.

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Section: Why Do Sids Parents Have Fewer Problems?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of Psychosocial Distress After Suicide, Sids and Accidents

2003

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“…Therefore, the findings do not allow the suggestion that GPs meet relatives’ needs sufficiently, taking into account that 57% of the help requests were referred for mental health care (Table 2). Possibly, GPs recognize the psychiatric vulnerability of relatives of suicide victims,21 whereas an estimated 20% of the bereaved are actually at increased risk of psychiatric consequences. It implicates that the high rate of referral for mental health care may, in part, be unnecessary, but probably come along with relatives persisting need for help 2.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A survey of Dutch GPs' attitudes towards help seeking and follow-up care for relatives bereaved by suicide

Groot¹,

Meer²,

Burger

2009

Family Practice

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Background. Relatives who are bereaved by suicide likely consult their GP when they feel the need for professional help. GPs may play a key role in establishing who is at risk for adverse consequences of the loss as they are familiar with relatives’ possible psychiatric vulnerabilities. The availability of evidence-based services for relatives of suicide victims is limited. Successful implementation of services needs analysis of key factors considered critical in the achievement of changes. We investigated GPs’ management of help requests of relatives bereaved by suicide and examined determinants of GPs willingness to refer for evidence-based follow-up care.Methods. A cross-sectional survey among 488 GPs in the northern part of The Netherlands.Results. A 44% response was achieved (n = 214) during the last 3 years, 38 (18%) were exposed to suicide, 21 (10%) to help requests without being exposed to suicide and 52 (24%) to both suicide and help requests. Out of 106 requests, 69 (65%) were handled by the GP; 60 (57%) were either directly or additionally referred, principally for mental health care. Suicide exposure and female gender were associated with the doctor's perception that follow-up care following a loss through suicide is useful. The perception that help is useful increased the likelihood of GPs’ referral for evidence-based follow-up care.Conclusions. GPs support the availability of evidence-based follow-up care for relatives of suicide victims. To modify GPs’ key role in referring relatives for it, GPs should be well informed of its usefulness and to whom.

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“…Points are added if randomisation and blinding are appropriately described. Critics of the scale have identified 10 flaws (Berger, ) noting it overemphasises blinding and that inter‐rater reliability needs to be further evaluated (Clark, ). The authors conducted these ratings individually and readily agreed on the Jadad scores.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%