Van der Hallen Ruth
Arch Suicide Res. 2023 Apr-Jun;27(2):426-438. doi: 10.1080/13811118.2021.2020190. Epub 2021 Dec 28.
Client suicide, used to refer to situations where a mental health practitioner (MHP) is exposed, affected, or bereaved by a client's suicide, is known to have a profound impact on MHPs. The current study investigated (1) the short- and long-term impact of client suicide and (2) to what extent gender, years of experience, therapeutic background, and exposure to suicidality predicted impact.
An international sample of 213 mental health practitioners completed an online survey on the impact of client suicide.
Overall, results indicate MHPs are significantly affected by client suicide. A two-factor model in which impact of client suicide was predicted by two latent variables, and explained 43% of short-term, 69% of long-term emotional, and 60% of long-term professional impact. Whereas did not significantly predict any of the three impact variables ( >.05), significantly predicted all three outcome variables ( <.001). Interestingly, lived experience or exposure to suicidality of friends/family members predicted more impact, while exposure to suicidality at work predicted less impact of client suicide. Implications for both research and clinical practice are discussed.HIGHLIGHTSMHPs are significantly affected by client suicide;Previous exposure to suicidality predicts the impact of client suicide;MHP characteristics do not predict the impact of client suicide.
来访者自杀是指心理健康从业者（MHP）面临来访者自杀、受到影响或遭遇丧亲之痛的情况，已知这会对心理健康从业者产生深远影响。本研究调查了（1）来访者自杀的短期和长期影响，以及（2）性别、从业年限、治疗背景和接触自杀行为在多大程度上能够预测这种影响。
一个由213名心理健康从业者组成的国际样本完成了一项关于来访者自杀影响的在线调查。
总体而言，结果表明心理健康从业者受到来访者自杀的显著影响。一个双因素模型中，来访者自杀的影响由两个潜在变量预测，该模型解释了43%的短期影响、69%的长期情绪影响和60%的长期职业影响。虽然[变量1]没有显著预测三个影响变量中的任何一个（p>.05），但[变量2]显著预测了所有三个结果变量（p<.001）。有趣的是，亲身经历或接触朋友/家庭成员的自杀行为预测了更大的影响，而工作中接触自杀行为则预测了来访者自杀的影响较小。文中讨论了对研究和临床实践的启示。
心理健康从业者受到来访者自杀的显著影响；
先前接触自杀行为可预测来访者自杀的影响；
心理健康从业者的特征不能预测来访者自杀的影响。
