How suicide-bereaved family members experience the inquest process: a qualitative study using thematic analysis

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Suicide bereavement confers unique risk and distress. In several countries, bereaved family members are called on to attend an inquest, an official public inquiry into deaths caused by external factors. The current study aimed to explore how suicide-bereaved family members (n = 18) experienced the inquest process, through qualitative semi-structured interviews.

Method: Participants were identified via coroner’s records and had previously taken part in a case-control study.

Results: Qualitative findings indicated four overall themes with respect to family members’ experiences of the inquest process: “inquest as fearfully unknown”, “structural processes of the inquest”, “enduring public and private pain to obtain answers” and “gaining answers and making sense”. Most family members experienced distress and fear as a result of several elements of the inquest process. Some participants had positive experiences but these did not outweigh the distress experienced by the majority of family members regarding their overall experience of the inquest process.

Conclusions: Key recommendations include informing family members of the main aspects and purpose of the inquest process beforehand, adapting the process to maximise the privacy and comfort of the bereaved relatives, and restricting graphic evidence being heard, where possible, to minimise distress experienced by family members.

KEYWORDS:

• Inquest
• coroner
• qualitative
• suicide
• bereavement
• family members

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the family members who took the time to take part in this study. We are very grateful for your invaluable contribution to the research. The authors would also like to thank the SPHeRE programme, the Health Research Board and the National Suicide Research Foundation for providing funding for this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the SPHeRE Programme [SPHeRE/2013/1] and Health Research Board [HRA-2013-PHR-438].

Notes on contributors

Ailbhe Spillane

Ms Ailbhe Spillane is a Post-Doctoral Research Coordinator with the National Suicide Research Foundation at University College Cork (UCC). She successfully defended her viva in October 2018 and will graduate with her PhD in February 2019. She graduated with a Master of Public Health in 2013 from UCC. Her PhD focuses on the impact of fatal and non-fatal suicidal behaviour on family members in Ireland.

Karen Matvienko-Sikar

Dr Karen Matvienko-Sikar, PhD, is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the School of Public Health at University College Cork. Dr Matvienko-Sikar’s doctoral research examined how positive psychological interventions can improve well-being during pregnancy. Dr Matvienko-Sikar is currently involved in a number of research projects, including examining parenting stress and attitudes towards members of the LGBT community.

Celine Larkin

Dr Celine Larkin, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr Larkin’s doctoral research focused on self-harm presentations to emergency departments and associated risk factors for repetition.

Paul Corcoran

Dr Paul Corcoran, PhD, is Director of Research in the National Suicide Research Foundation. He is an epidemiologist with more than 20 years of experience in suicidal behaviour research. Dr Corcoran is also a senior lecturer in perinatal epidemiology with the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and with the School of Public Health at University College Cork.

Ella Arensman

Professor Ella Arensman, PhD, is chief scientist with the National Suicide Research Foundation and is a Professor with the School of Public Health at University College Cork. For over 28 years, Professor Ella Arensman, MSc, PhD (Leiden University, The Netherlands), has conducted research into suicide, self-harm and related mental health problems, with particular expertise in epidemiological research, randomised controlled trials, health services research, health information systems, and programme evaluation.