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Holistic caring perspective on suicidality

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Photographer: Säidi Ovox

The direction of our research is to explore and describe suicidality in order to broaden the clinical application of prevention in the design of care and assessment situations for people in suicidal states.

Suicide and holistic perspective

Suicide is a cause of death that has profound individual and societal consequences before and after each individual's death. Extensive descriptions of sociodemographic distributions and the relationship to psychiatric diagnosis of suicide have contributed to the application and maintenance of a medical perspective and statistical risk factors in the care and assessment of suicidality. We examine how several domains that are active in a suicidal process and crucial to whether an individual dies by suicide can be used complementarily in care and assessment situations.

Our holistic scientific approach implies that our research on suicidal processes starts from viewing individuals as part of a larger whole, and that new preventive knowledge can be gained by understanding the individual in relation to this whole and its constituent parts. Our methodological standpoint is that knowledge emerges from the experiences and meaning-making of individuals with lived experiences of suicidal processes.

Research project

"New perspectives on suicide care". Experiences of healthcare professionals and next of kin of individuals who have died by suicide, as well as individuals with lived experiences of suicide attempts, are examined through lifeworld research to illuminate the suicidal process before, during, and after a completed suicide/suicide attempt. The studies are conducted in both psychiatric and somatic contexts, as well as in related areas.

Publications

Wärdig, R., Wallerstedt, I., Nyström, A. M., & Hultsjö, S. (2024). How, Why and When: Nursing Staff's Experiences of Working With Suicide Risk Assessment Instruments. Nursing open, 11(11), e70068

Rytterström, P., Lindeborg, M., Korhonen, S., & Sellin, T. 1966. (2019). Finding the Silent Message: Nurses’ Experiences of Non-Verbal Communication Preceding a Suicide. Psychology, 10(1), 1–18. Finding the Silent Message: Nurses’ Experiences of Non-Verbal Communication Preceding a Suicide

Hultsjö, S., Wärdig, R., & Rytterström, P. (2019). The borderline between life and death: Mental healthcare professionals' experience of why patients commit suicide during ongoing care. Journal of clinical nursing, 28(9-10), 1623–1632. The borderline between life and death: Mental healthcare professionals' experience of why patients commit suicide during ongoing care. Journal of clinical nursing

Rytterström, P., Ovox, S. M., Wärdig, R., & Hultsjö, S. (2020). Impact of suicide on health professionals in psychiatric care mental healthcare professionals' perceptions of suicide during ongoing psychiatric care and its impacts on their continued care work. International journal of mental health nursing, 29(5), 982–991. Impact of suicide on health professionals in psychiatric care mental healthcare professionals' perceptions of suicide during ongoing psychiatric care and its impacts on their continued care work. International journal of mental health nursing

Hultsjö, S., Ovox, S. M., Olofsson, C., Bazzi, M., & Wärdig, R. (2022). Forced to move on: An interview study with survivors who have lost a relative to suicide. Perspectives in psychiatric care, 10.1111/ppc.13049. Advance online publication. Forced to move on: An interview study with survivors who have lost a relative to suicide. Perspectives in psychiatric care

Wärdig, R. E., Hultsjö, S., Lind, M., & Klavebäck, I. (2022). Nurses’ Experiences of Suicide Prevention in Primary Health Care (PHC) – A Qualitative Interview Study. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 43(10), 903–912. Nurses’ Experiences of Suicide Prevention in Primary Health Care (PHC) – A Qualitative Interview Study. Issues in Mental Health Nursing

Wärdig, R., Engström, A. S., Carlsson, A., Wärdig, F., & Hultsjö, S. (2022). Saving lives by asking questions: nurses' experiences of suicide risk assessment in telephone counselling in primary health care. Primary health care research & development, 23, e65. Saving lives by asking questions: nurses' experiences of suicide risk assessment in telephone counselling in primary health care. Primary health care research & development

Ongoing research

Since spring 2022, the project includes a doctoral project that addresses new perspectives on suicide care. The project also encompasses individual studies that examine suicide from various contexts. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in our research area.

Group members and contact information are as follows:

Research group

 
Photo of Patrik Rytterström

Patrik Rytterström

Associate Professor, Docent
 
Photo of Säidi Margot Ovox

Säidi Margot Ovox
 
Photo of Rikard Wärdig

Rikard Wärdig

Associate Professor, Docent

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