AAS Positive Psychology & Suicide

Emerging despite the indelible wound : A positive psychological approach to understand the family functioning after adolescent suicide

Christine Genest, PhD

Associate Professor

Faculté des sciences infirmières, Université de Montréal

Plan

• Family resiliency concept

• Suicide survivors

• Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound • Methodology

• Results

• Future in suicidology

Family resiliency concept

• Resiliency concept:

• Social science (Werner et Smith, 1982)

• Positive psychology paradigm

• Family resiliency:

• Developped when family faces a challenging situation or a crisis

• Allow family to grows, learns and changes positively from this experience

Suicide survivors

• Particular bereaved persons:

• Violent, self-inflicted death

• Stigma, shame, culpability

• More at risk of : (Gallo, & Pfeffer, 2003; ; Jordan, 2001; Sethi, & Bhargava, 2003)

• Suicide, suicidal attemps

• PTSD

• Adolescent suicide is challenging for families because not in the natural order of things

• But:

• Lot of families were able to survive this experience and even positively change through this experience.

Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound • Research goal:

• To understand and explain family resiliency following an adolescent suicide

• Methodology:

• Grounded theory approach based on Glaser and Strauss (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998)

• Theoretical sampling : n=17 participants (7 families)

• Data: (± 2000 pages)

• Semi-structured interviews (22h20)

• Socio-demographic questionnaires

• Personal documentation (diary, homily…)

• Field notes

Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound

Adolescents presentation

Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound

Families presentation

Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound

Cataclysm

Lifebuoys (Inside or outside

family)

Rebounce

Emergence

Sinking

Learn

Grow

Actions (within or outside family)

Family context Social context Suicide Emotions

Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound • Energic family

• Fast rebound and continuous emergence

• Possible interventions:

• Encourage family to invest its energy not only toward suicide, to maintain other activities like sports, hobbies.

• Let the family knows that formal support exist like bereaved groups

• Offer disponibility so family can come back for informations when needed. Make sure informations are available.

Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound • Stunned families

• Late rebound and continuous emergence

• Usually there is a lack of lifebuoys in those families

• Possible interventions:

• Collaborate with the family to identify which lifebuoys are lacking

• Offer ressources to compensate the gap

• Identify the right time to intervene and help the family to get out of helplessness

Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound • Combative families

• Fast rebound and discoutinuous emergence

• Usually those families face other crisis during there emergence

• Possible interventions:

• Offer long term support

• Take care of the siblings, direct them toward adapted ressources

• Draw up the inventory of all the support available within the family network

Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound • Tenacious families • Late rebound and discountinuous emergence • Those are the families that are more in need of

professionnal support but they have the potential to grow and learn.

• Possible interventions: • Encourage siblings to relate with peers so they can

express their emotions and get the social support they need

• Ensure the relations between members of the family are healthy, especially between parents and children

• Offer long term support and collaborate with the family during the late rebound and the discontinuous emergence

• Give time to the family

Research project : Emerging despite the incredible wound • Suicide prevention field:

• Possible interventions:

• Avoid isolation, contact the family again some time after the suicide and periodically to make sure it don’t need support

• Help family to keep memories alive but not only those associated with the suicide itself

• Work with the extended family so it could support the bereaved in need.

Future in suicidology

• Look at the strenght and ressources (lifebuoys) of the survivors instead of only looking at their risk factor.

• Every survivors families have the potential to undertake the resiliency process if professionnal help and support them

References

Gallo, C.L., & Pfeffer, C.R. (2003). Children and adolescents bereaved by a

suicidal death : implications for psychosocial outcomes and interventions.

Dans R.A. King, & A. Apter (Éds.), Suicide in Children and Adolescents (pp.

294-312). Cambridge

Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory.

Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine Publ Co.

Jordan, J.R. (2001). Is suicide bereavement different? A reassessment of the

literature. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 31, 91-102.

Sethi, S., & Bhargava, S.C. (2003). Child and adolescent survivors of suicide. Crisis, 24, 4-6.

Strauss, A.L., & Corbin, J.(1998). Basics of qualitative research : techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SagePublications

Werner, E.E., & Smith, R.S. (1982). Vulnérable but Invincible. New

York:McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Thank you for your time and attention

christine.genest@umontreal.ca