Personal and Professional Knowledge of and Experience With Suicide and Suicide Prevention Among Stakeholders in Clinical and Community Practice

Community-dwelling veterans at risk for suicide may be in contact with a variety of providers in agency-based settings that offer health and human services. The study aim is to describe the perspective of agency-based clinical and community providers who may come into contact with veterans in need of suicide prevention services and to examine the nature of their personal and professional relationships to individuals at risk for suicide among this sample.

This study reports on qualitative data from a sample of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) and community providers serving veterans and military families in one Midwestern state (N = 70). Providers completed a survey assessing exposure to suicide, including contact with and relationship to someone suicidal, and organizational characteristics of the providers’ employing agencies. Semi-structured interview questions probed for the nature of how they would react with suicidal individuals. Most providers (94%) had some prior contact with someone who was suicidal, and nearly three quarters (77%) knew someone who had died by suicide. Providers reported powerful emotional responses of sadness and remorse to suicidal experiences. While these providers interact with veterans and military families as part of their jobs, they may have their own history of being exposed to suicide, both professionally and personally.     

Self-compassion and suicidal behavior in college students: Serial indirect effects via depression and wellness behaviors

Objective: College students may be at heightened risk for suicide and suicidal behavior due to maladaptive cognitive-emotional factors and failure to practice basic health behaviors. However, self-compassion and wellness behaviors may protect against risk. The relation between self-compassion and suicidal behavior and the contributing roles of depressive symptoms and wellness behaviors was examined. Participants: Participants were 365 undergraduate students. Data were collected in April 2015. Methods: A cross-sectional, survey design was employed. Participants completed measures assessing self-compassion, depressive symptoms, wellness behaviors, and suicidal behavior. Serial mediation analyses were conducted covarying age, sex, and ethnicity. Results: Self-compassion was inversely related to suicidal behavior, and this relationship was serially mediated by depressive symptoms and wellness behaviors. Conclusions: Self-compassion may protect against suicidal behavior, in part, due to reduced depressive symptoms and heightened engagement in wellness behaviors. Individual and campus-wide strategies promoting self-compassion and wellness behaviors may reduce suicide risk on college campuses.     

Gambling disorder and suicidality within the UK: an analysis investigating mental health and gambling severity as risk factors to suicidality

Greater severities of gambling behaviour and poorer mental health have been identified in the literature as risk factors for suicidality within gambling disorder (GD) populations. This is the first known study within the UK to use empirical data, taken from a UK treatment clinic for GD (National Problem Gambling Clinic, UK) to explore the associations between current suicidality (thoughts and plans) and measures assessing gambling severity and mental health. Self-report data from 122 participants were collected during the intake process at the clinic through a variety of methods including the use of questionnaires and a standardized 90-minute interview with a psychologist. Reported suicidality was high (current suicidal thoughts [28.7%] and plans [6.6%]), yet only one measure of gambling severity (estimated total losses) was found to be inversely associated with suicidality. Indices of poorer mental health were found to have a greater association with suicidality than measures of gambling severity, and a logistic regression analysis identified depressive symptomology and a history of psychiatric disorder in the participants’ family as significant factors associated with suicidality. Overall, within GD populations, factors associated with poorer mental health rather than gambling severity are seemingly a greater risk factor in patients with suicidality.     

What makes foster carers think about quitting? Recommendations for improved retention of foster carers

Ideation, or the formulation of ideas pertaining to a particular topic, is the precursor to individuals making significant life decisions. Many individuals think about foster caring long before they actually become carers, and it stands to reason that in many cases, carer discontinuation also follows a period of ideation. This being the case, it is possible that by monitoring ideation, interventions could be introduced to prevent placement disruptions occurring, particularly if the sources of dissatisfaction are known. Using a sample of 205 foster carers, a posteriori segmentation analysis identifies groups of carers dissatisfied with the same aspects of their role. One group is particularly dissatisfied with factors that are within the control of foster care agencies and also reports high levels of discontinuation ideation. Recommendations include that the individual support needs of carers be identified such that customized support can be offered, including boosting initial and ongoing training to manage expectations and ensure carers feel prepared for the role. Results also highlight the important role of caseworkers in making carers feel appreciated and taken seriously.     

“Good Manner of Dying” as a Normative Concept: “Autocide,”“Granny Dumping” and Discussions on Euthanasia/Death with Dignity in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the two characteristics of the way the issue of euthanasia/death with dignity has been discussed in Japan, compared with the situation in Europe and the USA. The two characteristics are: (i) that the concept of “euthanasia” is sharply distinguished from that of “death with dignity” in Japan in that the former only refers to the killing of a patient by administration of a lethal drug while the latter refers to letting a patient die by withholding or withdrawing life‐prolonging medical treatments; and (ii) that the view that it is sinful to commit suicide is not as common in Japan as it is in the West. In order to clarify these characteristics, I examine the nature of suicide and murder in relation to the issue of euthanasia and death with dignity while briefly reviewing the history of the debates in Japan in order to see how the characteristic understanding of “death with dignity” has generated. I also clarify, by giving examples, the structure of those narratives with regards to the “good manner of dying,” which excludes from society the elderly and people with incurable diseases and ones with motor and intellectual disabilities. In the end, I describe how biopolitics functions in the current Japanese situation.     

价值迷失与农村老人自杀——基于湖北京山J村的个案研究

农村老人自杀与结构转型、价值迷失有关,其诱因包括为子代着想、家庭矛盾、孤独无力、疾病困扰等。农村老人自杀的背后是农民价值系统的作用。农民价值可分为本体性价值、社会性价值、主体性价值。本体性价值是基础,社会性价值是重要补充,它们统一于伦理性的“过日子”实践中,共同受村庄文化网络规范。主体性价值是本体性价值、社会性价值丧失后的伴生物,与现代性进村密切相关。家庭生活伦理性的丧失、村庄生活规范性的弱化造成农村老人本体性价值的坍塌、社会性价值的丧失和主体性价值的被迫选择,使其价值安放出现混乱,自杀成为归宿。     

关于大学生生命教育的意义、内容和方法的新探究

文章通过对大学生自杀案例分析 ,阐述了对大学生进行生命教育在整个学校教育中的重要意义 ,并着重探讨了实施生命教育的内容和方法     

大学生自杀意念与家庭环境因素的相关性研究

目的:探讨大学生自杀意念的发生率及其与家庭环境的关系,为心理干预措施提供参考依据。采用大学生心理健康问卷(UPI)、家庭环境量表中文版(FES-CV)对四川某高校2500名本科学生进行调查。结果是1.87%的本科学生有自杀意念,农村学生自杀意念的出现频率显著高于其他家庭学生;男女分布无显著差异;自杀意念与家庭环境的亲密度、情感表达、知识性、组织性因子呈负相关,与矛盾性因子呈正相关。得出自杀意念与家庭环境因素显著相关,在心理危机干预中应考虑采用家庭干预,以确保干预效果的结论。     

论中国当代先锋诗歌中的死亡意识

中国当代先锋诗歌对死亡这一特殊的生命现象表现出极大的兴趣.死亡意识在先锋诗歌中主要表现为三种具体的形态一是通过死亡来反思、确证人的生命的价值与意义,对草菅人命的"文革"进行否定与批判;二是将个体死亡与国家、民族命运融为一体,死亡成为民族重获新生的一种神话;三是将死亡作为一种艺术,诗歌成为一种潜在的或实际的自杀行为艺术.     

中国人与日本人自杀行为的历史文化因素研究

中国与日本同属高自杀率国家。中国人与日本人的自杀行为有着独特的历史文化因素:传统价值观对自杀行为的宽容甚至鼓励;史籍与语言———自杀的历史文化载体;日本源远流长的死亡之道“武士道”及切腹的思想;审美意识中的自杀与自古的崇尚和渲染;对自杀的法律评价;集团意识、依赖心理与自杀的“传染性”、集体性;情感模式中的拘谨自制等因素。