Galway Mental Health Service, HSE West, Health Centre, Brackernagh, Ballinasloe, Galway, Ireland.
Department of Psychology, HSE West, Merlin Park University Hospital, Galway, Ireland.
Ir J Psychol Med. 2022 Mar;39(1):74-84. doi: 10.1017/ipm.2019.4. Epub 2019 Feb 19.
Our principle objective was to examine the personal and professional impact of service user (SU) suicide on mental health professionals (MHPs). We also wished to explore putative demographic or clinical factors relating to SUs or MPHs that could influence the impact of SU suicide for MHPs and explore factors MHPs report as helpful in reducing distress following SU suicide.
A mixed-method questionnaire with quantitative and thematic analysis was utilised.
Quantitative data indicated SU suicide was associated with personal and professional distress with sadness (79.5%), shock (74.5%) and surprise (68.7%) particularly evident with these phenomena lasting less than a year for more than 90% of MHPs. MHPs also reported guilt, reduced self-confidence and a fear of negative publicity. Thematic analysis indicated that some MHPs had greater expertise when addressing SU suicidal ideation and in supporting colleagues after experiencing a SU suicide. Only 17.7% of MHPs were offered formal support following SU suicide.
SU suicide impacts MHPs personally and professionally in both a positive and negative fashion. A culture and clear pathway of formal support for MHPs to ascertain the most appropriate individualised support dependent on the distress they experience following SU suicide would be optimal.
我们的主要目的是调查服务使用者（SU）自杀对心理健康专业人员（MHPs）的个人和职业影响。我们还希望探讨与 SU 或 MHP 相关的潜在人口统计学或临床因素，这些因素可能会影响 SU 自杀对 MHP 的影响，并探讨 MHP 报告有助于减轻 SU 自杀后困扰的因素。
使用了混合方法的问卷，包括定量和主题分析。
定量数据表明，SU 自杀与个人和职业困扰有关，超过 90%的 MHP 报告感到悲伤（79.5%）、震惊（74.5%）和惊讶（68.7%），这些现象持续不到一年。MHPs 还报告了内疚、自信心降低和害怕负面宣传。主题分析表明，一些 MHP 在处理 SU 的自杀意念和在经历 SU 自杀后支持同事方面具有更大的专业知识。只有 17.7%的 MHP 在经历 SU 自杀后获得了正式的支持。
SU 自杀对 MHP 个人和职业都产生了积极和消极的影响。建立一种文化和明确的正式支持 MHP 的途径，以确定最适合他们个人的个性化支持，这将是最佳的选择。
