| 1. |
- Omerov, Pernilla, et al.
(författare)
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Encountering the Body at the Site of the Suicide : A Population-Based Survey in Sweden.
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Suicide and Life-threatening Behaviour. - : Wiley. - 0363-0234 .- 1943-278X. ; 47:1, s. 38-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Encountering the body of a child who died by suicide at the site of death is believed to be especially harmful for bereaved parents. We investigated the association between encountering the body at the site of the suicide and psychological distress in 666 suicide-bereaved parents. Parents who had encountered their child's body at the site of the suicide (n = 147) did not have a higher risk of nightmares (relative risk [RR] 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.67-1.35), intrusive memories (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.84-1.13), avoidance of thoughts (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.74-1.27), avoidance of places or things (RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.66-1.25), anxiety (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.64-1.33), or depression (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.63-1.42) compared with parents who had not encountered the body (n = 512). Our results suggest that losing a child by suicide is sufficiently disastrous by itself to elicit posttraumatic responses or psychiatric morbidity whether or not the parent has encountered the deceased child at the site of death.
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| 2. |
- Omerov, Pernilla, et al.
(författare)
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Preparatory Studies to a Population-Based Survey of Suicide-Bereaved Parents in Sweden.
- 2013
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Ingår i: Crisis. - : Hogrefe Publishing Group. - 0227-5910 .- 2151-2396. ; 34:3, s. 200-210
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: There is a need for evidence-based guidelines on how professionals should act following a suicide. In an effort to provide empiric knowledge, we designed a nationwide population-based study including suicide-bereaved parents. Aim: To describe the process from creating hypotheses through interviews to the development of a population-based questionnaire. Method: We used interviews, qualitative analysis and various means of validation to create a study-specific questionnaire to be used in a nonselected nationwide population of suicide-bereaved parents and a control population of nonbereaved (N = 2:1). The Swedish Register of Causes of Death and the Multigeneration Register were used to identify eligible individuals. All presumptive participants received a letter of invitation followed by a personal contact. Results: We developed a questionnaire covering the participants' perception of participation, their daily living, psychological morbidity, professional actions, and other experiences in immediate connection to the time before and after the suicide. Almost three out of four parents (bereaved = 666, nonbereaved = 377) responded to the questionnaire. Conclusions: By involving parents early in the research process we were able to create a questionnaire that generated a high participation rate in a nationwide population-based study that might help us to answer our hypotheses about bereavement after suicide.
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| 3. |
- Pettersen, Rossana, et al.
(författare)
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Lack of Trust in the Health-Care System After Losing a Child to Suicide.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Crisis. - : Hogrefe Publishing Group. - 0227-5910 .- 2151-2396. ; 36:3, s. 161-72
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lack of trust in the health-care system after losing a child to suicide may prevent bereaved parents from seeking professional treatment when needed, thus diminishing their chances of recovery.
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| 4. |
- Pettersen, Rossana, et al.
(författare)
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Suicide-bereaved siblings' perception of health services.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Death studies. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0748-1187 .- 1091-7683. ; 39:6, s. 323-31
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The authors investigated suicide-bereaved siblings' reported reasons for seeking or not seeking professional support, their reported satisfaction when receiving it, and their recommendations to health services when meeting suicide-bereaved siblings. Using qualitative content analysis of 18 interviews with suicide-bereaved siblings, the authors found that the perception of health services as being helpful was influenced by both the participants' and by the deceased siblings' experiences with health services. They conclude that the bereaved sibling's and the deceased sibling's unmet needs may generate negative attitudes toward health services, which reduces the likelihood of seeking professional help as well as medication acceptance in some cases.
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| 5. |
- Pettersén, Rossana
(författare)
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Suicide in the family : towards improved care of bereaved parents and siblings
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Losing a child to suicide is an overwhelming experience, which increases the risk for negative health outcomes in the bereaved parents and siblings, such as long-term psychiatric morbidity and increased risk of premature mortality, including suicide. Despite their needs and the increased risk for bereavement related difficulties, there is limited evidence coming from population-based studies for the efficacious care of the suicide-bereaved. The main aim of our studies is to contribute with knowledge in order to improve the professional care of suicide-bereaved parents and siblings by exploring some areas of interest that can be seen as first steps towards this aim. Methods: We refined our working hypotheses, created a study-specific questionnaire, validated and tested it, including the data collection procedures (study I). Also, we interviewed 18 suicidebereaved siblings and qualitatively analyzed the data concerning their perception of health services (study II). Then, using our study-specific questionnaire, we investigated the prevalence and variables associated with lack of trust in the healthcare system in a population of 666 suicide-bereaved parents and 326 non-bereaved-parents (study III), and we also investigated the psychological impact of confronting the body of the deceased child at the site of death in the suicide-bereaved parents (study IV). Results: Of the 46 suicide-bereaved parents that answered the questionnaire in our preliminary study, 45 asserted that they found the survey valuable, 24 that they had been positively affected by answering the questionnaire, and 3 that they had been negatively affected. A majority stated that they were grateful for the opportunity to tell about their experience surrounding their child’s death (study I). We also found that most suicide-bereaved siblings wanted professional help but not all of them sought it due to lack of trust in the helpfulness of health services or because they experienced overwhelming grief. A minority did not feel the need of professional help. Moreover, the deceased sibling’s experience with health services became a point of reference that influenced the bereaved siblings’ perception of the helpfulness of health services (study II). Furthermore, we found that lack of trust in the healthcare system was more prevalent in the suicide-bereaved parents (47%) than in the non-bereaved parents (18%), resulting in a Relative Risk (RR) of 2.5 (95% CI 2.0 – 3.3). Considering only the bereaved parents, the variables associated to lack of trust in the healthcare system were having high scores of depression, as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), living in big cities (>200,000 inhabitants) and being single (study III). In study IV, we found that confronting the body of the dead child was not associated with a statistically significant higher risk of reliving the child’s death through nightmares (RR 0.95, 95% CI 0.67 – 1.35), intrusive memories (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.84 – 1.12), avoidance of thoughts (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.74 – 1.27), avoidance of places or things (RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.66 – 1.25), anxiety (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.64 – 1.34) or depression (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.63 – 1.42) when comparing parents who confronted the body of their child with parents who did not. Conclusions: Suicide-bereaved parents may participate in research studies including sensitive questions, as long as the research process follows robust ethical and methodological procedures (study I). The suicide-bereaved siblings’ perception that the care provided to their deceased sibling was deficient, may produce negative attitudes towards health services and also low expectations regarding the helpfulness of health services (study II). The prevalence of lack of trust in the healthcare system was larger in the suicide-bereaved parents than in the non-bereaved parents. Their lack of trust was found to be associated with having high scores of depression, living in big cities and being single (study III). Regarding the psychological impact of confronting the body of the child at the scene of death, we found no significant statistical differences between parents who confronted the body of the deceased child and parents who did not (study IV).
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