Interviewing significant others by telephone as part of a modified psychologic autopsy

Abstract

In suicidology the psychologic autopsy has become an important tool in which interviews with close relatives play an important role. The usual approach has been a face-to-face interview quite a long time after the suicide, often with a prolonged contact period including letters and telephone calls before the actual interview. This paper describes an alternative approach using a telephone interview without previous contact and rather soon after the suicide. One or several informants were contacted in 100 consecutive cases of suicide. The mean time from suicide to interview was 32 days (range, 6-198). The informants' reactions were mainly positive (n=43) or neutral (n=35). According to our experiences from this investigation, the best time to approach an intended informant is 2-3 weeks after the suicide. The straightforward contact without many arrangements around the investigation worked out well. Psychologic autopsy by phone deserves a position as an alternative investigation method in its own right.