A model for the description and interpretation of suicide prevention

Journal/Book: Suicide Life Threaten Behav. 1999; 29: 72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012, USA. Guilford Publications Inc. 241-255.

Abstract: Views about suicide prevention are based on underlying beliefs about the origins of problems and basic concepts about humankind. These implicit theories have an effect on prevention practices. Making these views explicit is one of the keys for the further development of suicide prevention. In this study a paradigm for analyzing suicide prevention by means of a coding frame and interpreting findings by means of theoretical models of prevention was elaborated. The analysis was based on empirical data consisting of definitions of prevention given by psychologists (N = 34) participating in the national suicide prevention project in Finland. The study demonstrates that suicide prevention can be differentiated at the operational level by means of the analysis method generated. Moreover, the findings can be interpreted according to theoretical criteria. Views expressed by the psychologists seemed to correspond largely to central features of current prevention models. Furthermore, the data can be seen to serve as an empirical validation of these models. Suicide prevention proved to be a multifactorial concept manifesting mainly process theory and interactional explanations of suicidality, and prevention practices fell into a simple typology of four categories.

Note: Article Upanne M, Natl Res & Dev Ctr Welf & Hlth, POB 220, Helsinki 00531, FINLAND

Zurück | Weiter