Emerging Despite the Indelible Wound: A Grounded Theory of Family Transformation Following Adolescent Suicide.

Family members of a person who has died by suicide are at an increased risk of experiencing depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide ideation, and suicide. However, despite the experience of losing a family member to suicide, most families continue to function and even live well following this difficult experience. This study sought to understand and describe the transformation process that occurs in family member survivors using a grounded theory approach. Seven families, who experienced the loss of an adolescent in their family by suicide, participated in this qualitative study that used a grounded theory methodology. The results describe the transformation process experienced by the family, one of growth and learning, even though the wound from their tragic loss was still present. According to the grounded theory developed in this study, the suicide is a cataclysm, followed by a sinking period that is tempered by the presence of lifebuoys, which are supports that can be found within the families or from people around them. It is necessary for family nurses to understand this transformation process to better support surviving family members and improve suicide postvention care.

[The process followed by helping peers during their experience with suicidal teenagers: an exploratory study]. / Processus suivi par des pairs aidants lors de leur expérience auprès d'adolescents suicidaires: une étude exploratoire.

The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory and retrospective study is to understand the process followed by helping peers during their experience with a suicidal teenager. Interviews allowed to collect data with young people who had played this role. An analysis using grounded theory gave the following proposal: for youths, their experience was perceived as a heroic mission, first stimulating, then confronting and, finally, enriching. The experience goes through three stages. The first begins with the access to the status of helping peer and is pervaded with the wildly enthusiastic attitude of youth who give themselves the mission to save a suicidal mate. The second is marked by a certain disappointment having considered the facts surrounding the mission and undertaken a fight to save the suicidal mate. At the last stage, after the mission is completed, an attitude of wisdom stands out when the helping peer makes the synthesis of his victories and his defeats. The scarcity of studies on such a controversial subject incites to recommend further research.