The male experience of suicide attempts and recovery: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Richardson, C., Dickson, A., Robb, K. A. and O'Connor, R. (2021) The male experience of suicide attempts and recovery: an interpretative phenomenological analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10), 5209. (doi: 10.3390/ijerph18105209) (PMID:34068854) (PMCID:PMC8153566)

Abstract

Suicidal behaviour is a complex phenomenon—its aetiology spans biological, psychological, environmental, social and cultural facets. Men’s deaths by suicide outnumber women in every country in the world. This study explored the male experience of suicide attempts and recovery as well as factors which may be protective for men. Men (n = 12) participated in semi-structured face-to-face interviews which were subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four master themes were identified: (1) “characteristics of attempt/volitional factors”, (2) “dealing with suicidal thoughts and negative emotions”, (3) “aftermath” and (4) “protective factors”. The theoretical and clinical implications of this study are discussed, including help seeking, emotional expression, the long-term impact of suicide attempt as well as the applied contribution to established theories.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) funded the PhD studentship but had no involvement in conducting this review.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: O'Connor, Professor Rory and Richardson, Cara and Robb, Professor Katie

Creator Roles

Richardson, C.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing, Project administration
Robb, K.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review and editing, Supervision
O'Connor, R.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review and editing, Supervision

• Authors: Richardson, C., Dickson, A., Robb, K. A., and O'Connor, R.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Journal Name: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1661-7827
• ISSN (Online): 1660-4601
• Published Online: 14 May 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in 18(10):5209
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License