Resource Tag: POSTVENTION

This paper highlights the role of school social workers and other school-based mental health professionals in postvention activities, supports and services provided by the school following a student’s suicide death. Reflecting the traumatic nature of the unexpected death of a student in the school community, the described postvention activities use SAMHSA’s trauma-informed principles to frame […]

Abstract. Suicide is a global public health problem, with around 800,000 people taking their own lives annually worldwide. In Spain, 2022 marked the fourth consecutive year of record highs in suicide deaths. This study  focuses on the involvement of social work professionals in suicide prevention, intervention and postvention. To this end, an exhaustive review of […]

Based on the authors research, it appears that there is still a significant gap in the number of law enforcement agencies that have written policies and procedures to prevent suicide, intervene when an officer is at risk for  suicide, or provide support after a suicide occurs. This resource seeks to fill that gap by providing […]

Although exposure to the suicide death of a military colleague has been shown quantitatively to increase suicide risk factors among veterans, there are very few studies where veterans have been asked about this experience. This article presents a qualitative analysis of 38 interviews with U.S. veterans with exposure to the suicide death of a military […]

Rationale Each day, more than 10 Canadians die by suicide. Each suicide leaves entire communities to manage the traumatic aftermath of this loss. Individuals bereaved by suicide loss are at a higher risk of experiencing negative mental health outcomes. Current research suggests that engagement in meaningful activities may be an avenue to protecting mental health. […]

Suicide is a leading cause of death globally, and each suicide can have a profound impact on those grieving the loss, including young people. Suicide loss is a risk factor for adverse health and social outcomes including complicated grief and subsequent suicides. Young people coping with such a death may face additional complexities in their […]

There is now convincing empirical evidence that exposure to suicide increases the risk of subsequent suicide, as well as other negative mental health sequelae, in those who have been exposed. This article provides a review of this empirical evidence. It also concludes that this substantial evidence base makes the compelling case that all suicide prevention […]

People with a lived experience of suicide are commonly included within suicide prevention research. This includes participation in conferences, policy development, research and other activities. Yet little is known about the impact on the person in the long term of regularly sharing one’s experience to different audiences and, in some cases, to a schedule not […]

Objective: Suicide bereavement is a significant public health concern. Using nationally representative survey data, we quantify sexual orientation differences in frequency of suicide exposure and suicide exposure-related emotional distress among US adults. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the 2016 General Social Survey (GSS) and included sexual minority (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual; (n = 74, 5.3%) and heterosexual […]

There is a collective call from the field of suicide research for studies on the individual dynamics of suicidality in order to understand the deadliness of the suicidal process. This study examines the deceased next of kin’s (‘survivor’s) experience of the suicidal process in order to gain perspectives that can be used in the preventive […]

Purpose of Review We review the published literature on a school’s response after a student dies by suicide (“postvention”). We examine published recommendations based on expert guidance and empirical studies that have evaluated postvention measures. Recent Findings Experts recommend careful communication with family, staff, and students that adheres to published suicide reporting guidelines. Experts also […]

By the time they leave high school, 17% of adolescents will have experienced the suicide death of a friend, peer, or classmate. While some will be unaffected or experience a brief period of distress following the death, for others the death will cause significant disruption and distress, even increasing their risk of suicidal thoughts and […]

Introduction: Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the 15 to 29 age group worldwide, and is a severe public health problem. Adolescent and young adult individuals attend educational institutions which can play an essential role in detecting and preventing suicide. For this reason, the purpose of this research is to identify what educational […]

Suicide is a global concern with rates in Australia continuing to increase. Effective post-suicidal care is critical for reducing persistent suicidal behaviour. One model of care is that adopted by Alfred Health, delivering a multidisciplinary, hybrid clinical and non-clinical (psycho-social support), assertive outreach approach. This study measured improvements in resilience and wellbeing, changes to distress […]

Background: Postvention services aim to support people bereaved by suicide and reduce the adverse impacts associated with suicide bereavement. StandBy Support After Suicide is a community-based suicide bereavement service that provides support and a coordinated response for people bereaved by suicide. Aims: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the StandBy service in reducing suicidality, grief reactions associated […]

This editorial presents a call to a focused future to support those exposed to suicide. In the late 1960s, Edwin Shneidman first focused attention on the needs of those bereaved by suicide and coined the term postvention. While we have not forgotten to cite Shneidman over the past 50 years, the crucial part of his message, […]

Background: Young people are more likely to be affected by suicide contagion, and there are concerns about the role social media plays in the development and maintenance of suicide clusters or in facilitating imitative suicidal behavior. However, social media also presents an opportunity to provide real-time and age-appropriate suicide prevention information, which could be an […]

Background: Since the seminal publications of Shneidman (1969) and Cain (1972), suicide bereavement and postvention have attracted increasing research interest. Aims: To examine the topics of suicide bereavement and postvention in the core international suicidology journals, since their inception until mid-2013, in order to reveal the number of postvention articles throughout the years, their geographic distribution, and the […]

Background: Postvention services aim to ameliorate distress and reduce future incidences of suicide. The StandBy Response Service is one such service operating in Australia for those bereaved through suicide. Few previous studies have reported estimates or evaluations of the economic impact and outcomes associated with the implementation of bereavement/grief interventions. Aims: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of a […]

Background: While high-quality and ethically sound research is needed to better understand and respond to the needs of those bereaved by suicide, there is a concern that ethical boards internationally raise unreasonable objections to research with those bereaved by suicide. Aims: This pilot study was conducted to examine the issues faced by suicide bereavement and postvention researchers […]

Background: Suicide clusters have commonly been documented in adolescents and young people. Aims: The current review conducts a literature search in order to identify and evaluate postvention strategies that have been employed in response to suicide clusters in young people. Methods: Online databases, gray literature, and Google were searched for relevant articles relating to postvention interventions following a suicide cluster […]

Background: “A person’s death is not only an ending: it is also a beginning – for the survivors. Indeed, in the case of suicide, the largest public health problem is neither the prevention of suicide (…), nor the management of attempts (…), but the alleviation of the effects of stress in the survivor-victims of suicidal deaths, […]

This article examines whether and to what extent school climate and previous experience of attempted suicide or suicide of someone close, affect the strategies adopted by Israeli school staff members in coping with a student’s suicide. Participants included 84 homeroom teachers, principals, counselors, and psychologists who work at schools where a student had died by […]