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Qualitative Evidence in Suicide: Findings from Qualitative Psychological Autopsy Studies

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Handbook of Qualitative Health Research for Evidence-Based Practice

Part of the book series: Handbooks in Health, Work, and Disability ((SHHDW,volume 4))

Abstract

The suicide research field is heavily dominated by repetitive quantitative (risk factor) research and a negative attitude toward qualitative research still is common. In this chapter we present findings from qualitative psychological autopsy studies (PA studies) conducted in different cultural contexts and demonstrate that such studies contribute not only to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of suicide but also to a somewhat different understanding than that which quantitative studies provide. Quantitative PA studies have focused mainly on different risk factors and have, in particular, emphasized that mental disorders play an important role in suicide. By taking the life history, context, and more of the complexity into consideration in the analysis, qualitative PA studies indicate that the importance of mental disorders may have been overestimated in quantitative studies. Rather, lack of control seems more central for suicide albeit in different ways and under different circumstances. For example, loss of control and the attempt to regain it through suicide was a characteristic existential issue among the elderly in Norway and Uganda. For young Norwegian and Ugandan men as well as young Ugandan women, suicide was found to be connected to a failed attempt to obtain control. The related sociocultural and developmental contexts are described in the chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work and Health Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, 7491, Norway

    Heidi Hjelmeland Ph.D.

  2. Faculty of Nursing, Sør-Trøndelag University College, Trondheim, 7004, Norway

    Birthe Loa Knizek Ph.D.

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  1. Heidi Hjelmeland Ph.D.
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  2. Birthe Loa Knizek Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Heidi Hjelmeland Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Karin Olson

  2. Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, and Special Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Richard A. Young

  3. Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, and Special Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Izabela Z. Schultz

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Hjelmeland, H., Knizek, B.L. (2016). Qualitative Evidence in Suicide: Findings from Qualitative Psychological Autopsy Studies. In: Olson, K., Young, R., Schultz, I. (eds) Handbook of Qualitative Health Research for Evidence-Based Practice. Handbooks in Health, Work, and Disability, vol 4. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2920-7_21

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