‘It’s like getting a group hug and you can cry there and be yourself and they understand’. Family members’ experiences of using a suicide bereavement peer support group
Keywords:
suicide, grief, bereavement, peer support, postventionAbstract
AbstractSuicide bereavement support groups are a valuable source of help for people coping with a suicide and it is important to understand how they are beneficial, as well as ways in which they may be unhelpful or even detrimental. A constructivist grounded theory approach was implemented and17 family members bereaved by suicide were interviewed, along with seven participants in a focus group. The findings highlighted the difficulties for participants to adjust to the suicide, which motivated them to meet others in a peer suicide bereavement group who had shared a similar experience. This helped them to normalise their grief experiences and share ways of coping with the death. Some participants encountered practical challenges of accessing groups, found other ways of coping or described their needs as unmet. It is recommended that health services proactively provide bereaved families with timely and ongoing information on support available, including peer support groups, to minimise negative health outcomes.
References
Ali, F. (2019). Understanding the impact of suicide on families of people who were in receipt of mental health services. (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK.
Andriessen, K. (2006). Can postvention be prevention? Abstract Book, 11th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behavior. Psychiatria Danubina, 18(1), 125.
Andriessen, K. (2009). Can postvention be prevention? Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 30(1), 43–47.
Andriessen, K., & Krysinska, K. (2011). Essential questions on suicide bereavement and postvention. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9(1), 24–32.
Care Quality Commission. (2016). Learning, candour and accountability. A review of the way NHS trusts review and investigate the deaths of patients in England. Retrieved from http://www.cqc.org.uk.
Cerel, J., Padgett, J. H., Conwell, Y., & Reed Jr, G. A. (2009). A call for research: The need to better understand the impact of support groups for suicide survivors. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 39(3), 269–281.
Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing grounded theory (2nd Ed.). Sage.
Cho, J., & Trent, A. (2006). Validity in qualitative research revisited. Qualitative Research, 6(3), 319–340.
Department of Health. (2017). Preventing suicide in England: Third progress report of the cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives. Retrieved from www.gov.uk/dh.
Feigelman, B., & Feigelman, W. (2008). Surviving after suicide loss: The healing potential of suicide survivor support groups. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 16(4), 285–304.
Feigelman, B., & Feigelman, W. (2011a). Suicide survivor support groups: Comings and goings, part I. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 19(1), 57–71.
Feigelman, B., & Feigelman, W. (2011b). Suicide survivor support groups: Comings and goings, part II. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 19(2), 165–185.
Grad, O. T., Clark, S., Dyregrov, K., & Andriessen, K. (2004). What helps and what hinders the process of surviving the suicide of somebody close? Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 25(3), 134–139.
Groos, A. D., & Shakespeare-Finch, J. (2013). Positive experiences for participants in suicide bereavement groups: A grounded theory model. Death Studies, 37(1), 1–24.
Hall, C. (2014). Bereavement theory: Recent developments in our understanding of grief and bereavement. Bereavement Care, 33(1), 7–12.
Hardy, S., Hallett, N., & Chaplin, E. (2019). Evaluating a peer support model of community wellbeing for mental health: A coproduction approach to evaluation. Mental Health & Prevention, 13, 149–158.
Jordan, J. R. (2008). Bereavement after suicide. Psychiatric Annals, 38, 10.
Jordan, J. R., Feigelman, W., McMenamy, J., & Mitchell, A. M. (2011). Research on the needs of survivors. In J. R.Jordan, & J. L.McIntosh (Eds.), Grief after suicide: Understanding the consequences and caring for the survivors (pp. 115–131). Routledge.
Jordan, J. R., & McMenamy, J. (2004). Interventions for suicide survivors: A review of the literature. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 34(4), 337–349.
Keyes, S. E., Clarke, C. L., Wilkinson, H., Alexjuk, E. J., Wilcockson, J., Robinson, L., … Cattan, M. (2016). ‘We’re all thrown in the same boat … ’: A qualitative analysis of peer support in dementia care. Dementia, 15(4), 560–577.
Lindqvist, P., Johansson, L., & Karlsson, U. (2008). In the aftermath of teenage suicide: A qualitative study of the psychosocial consequences for the surviving family members. BMC Psychiatry, 8(1), 1–7.
Maple, M., Cerel, J., Sanford, R., Pearce, T., & Jordan, J. (2016). Is exposure to suicide beyond kin associated with risk for suicidal behavior? A systematic review of the evidence. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 47(4), 461–474.
Maple, M., Plummer, D., Edwards, H., & Minichiello, V. (2007). The effects of preparedness for suicide following the death of a young adult child. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 37(2), 127–134.
Neimeyer, R. A., Baldwin, S. A., & Gillies, J. (2006). Continuing bonds and reconstructing meaning: Mitigating complications in bereavement. Death Studies, 30(8), 715–738.
NHS England. (2016). Implementing the five year forward view for mental health. Retrieved from www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/fyfv-mh.pdf.
Norcross, J. C., & Lambert, M. J. (2018). Psychotherapy relationships that work III. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 303–315.
O'Connor, M. K., Netting, F. E., & Thomas, M. L. (2008). Grounded theory: Managing the challenge for those facing institutional review board oversight. Qualitative Inquiry, 14(1), 28–45.
Parkes, C. M. (2010). Grief: Lessons from the past, visions for the future. Psychologica Belgica, 50(1–2), 7–26.
Pietilä, M. (2002). Support groups: A psychological or social device for suicide bereavement? British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 30(4), 401–414.
Pitman, A., De Souza, T., Khrisna Putri, A., Stevenson, F., King, M., Osborn, D., & Morant, N. (2018). Support needs and experiences of people bereaved by suicide: Qualitative findings from a cross-sectional British study of bereaved young adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(4), 666.
Samaritans. (2016). Suicide Statistics Report 2016: Including data for 2012–2014. Retrieved from www.samaritans.org
.
Sanford, R., Cerel, J., McGann, V., & Maple, M. (2016). Suicide loss survivors′ experiences with therapy: Implications for clinical practice. Community Mental Health Journal, 52(5), 551–558.
Spillane, A., Larkin, C., Corcoran, P., Matvienko-Sikar, K., Riordan, F., & Arensman, E. (2017). Physical and psychosomatic health outcomes in people bereaved by suicide compared to people bereaved by other modes of death: A systematic review. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 939.
Wilson, A., & Marshall, A. (2010). The support needs and experiences of suicidally bereaved family and friends. Death Studies, 34(7), 625–640.
Young, I. T., Iglewicz, A., Glorioso, D., Lanouette, N., Seay, K., Ilapakurti, M., & Zisook, S. (2012). Suicide bereavement and complicated grief. Dialogues Clin Neurosci, 14(2), 177–186.
