Nurses’ Experiences of Suicide Prevention in Primary Health Care (PHC) – A Qualitative Interview Study

Abstract

Aim

The purpose was to describe nurses’ experiences of suicide prevention work in primary health care (PHC).

Background

Suicide is the tenth most common cause of death among adults. PHC has an important role in suicide prevention work, as patients often had contact with PHC before their suicide rather than with specialist psychiatric care. Nurses often have the first contact with the patient and are responsible for triage and assessment, making them important in suicide prevention work. Previous studies shed light on suicide prevention in a primary care context, but the nurses’ voices are missing.

Methods

Fifteen qualitative interviews were conducted with nurses in primary health care. Data was analyzed according to conventional content analysis techniques.

Findings

Nurses may avoid asking questions about suicidality for fear of what to do with the answer. To support the nurses’ ability in suicide prevention work, both educational and practical experience are fundamental. There was a lack of clarity about who is carrying responsibility for the patient, and it turned out to be difficult to help the patient move further to the next care institution. There was a need for guidelines as well as routines for collaboration with other care actors in suicide prevention work.

Conclusion

The PHC organization does not support nurses in suicide prevention, therefore they need the right conditions for their work. Suicide prevention needs to be given greater focus and space within education as well as training in the ongoing clinical work, which can be performed with less extensive efforts.

Conflicts of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Disclosure

The authors have confirmed that all authors meet the ICMJE criteria for authorship credit (www.icmje.org) as follows: (1) substantial contributions to the conception and design of or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and (3) final approval of the version to be published.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by Futurum – Akademin för Hälsa och Vård, Region Jönköping.