The purpose of this study is to understand the significance of survival experiences of those who repetitively attempted suicide and the progress of the experiences, and to develop a substantive theory on the survival process.
The subjects of this stu...
The purpose of this study is to understand the significance of survival experiences of those who repetitively attempted suicide and the progress of the experiences, and to develop a substantive theory on the survival process.
The subjects of this study were seven adult four males and three females between 23 and 46 years old who lived in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. Those who experienced repetitive attempting of suicide and currently had no specific problems in daily life were recommended from depression cafes in Internet portal sites, Community Mental Health Centers, Social Welfare Center, Family Violence Counseling Centers, and Mental Health Hospitals and were applied of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI) as a suicidal scale presented by Beck. Then, those who had no personality disorder and suicide ideation, took sufficient explanation on this study, and voluntarily submitted written consent to participate in this study were selected to be the subjects of this study. The data was collected through in-depth interviews, and the contents of the interviews were recorded to for transcript. Each subject was interviewed two or three times, and each interview took 60 to 120 minutes.
The data was analyzed by open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and process analysis based on the grounded theory presented by Strauss and Corbin (1998), and 80 concepts, 24 sub-categories, and 15 categories were induced. The results from each stage were adjusted by consideration of consultations from one professor of mental health nursing having experiences in qualitative research, two psychiatric mental health nurse and psychiatric mental health social worker having three or more years of experiences in suicide counseling and crisis intervention, and one expert of clinical psychologist having five or more years of experiences in suicide research and practice, and were agreed by two participants of this study. Then, patterns and progresses were analyzed to form a situational model. The results of this study are as follows.
First, the causal conditions of survival experiences of those who repetitively attempted suicide were "being alone," "taking misunderstood," and "giving up and resigning," and the consequent phenomenon was "support of his family." The contextual condition of the phenomenon was "being sucked," and the intervening condition was "forgetting the past." The action/interaction strategies used by the adults who repetitively attempted suicide to solve "forgetting the past" in overcoming suicide were "giving and taking help," "indulging in religions," "self-hypnosis," and "being faithful to daily life," and "making a support system." The consequent results of the strategies were "becoming free", "recovering hope" and "humane growth."
Second, the core category, containing all the other categories, as a process to solve "being sucked," the phenomenon in survival experiences of those who repetitively attempted suicide was "getting out of the swamp."
Third, the types of survival experiences of those who repetitively attempted suicide were divided into three including "type of lamp" that one actively copes with his/her situation, "type of effort" that one has a will to overcome suicide but shows difference in solving problems according to situations, and "type of fog" that one endures and bears his/her situation as their own problems.
Fourth, the "getting out of the swamp" as the core category of suivival experiences of those who repetitively attempted suicide was processed through "floundering", "enduring," and "progressing." The processes showed continual and repetitive patterns, helping the adult who repetitively attempted suicide to effectively conduct the "getting out of the swamp."
Fifth, survival experiences of those who repetitively attempted suicide is a phenonenon as the result of action/interaction at the level of individual-family- community-state, and it is needed to readjust the existing policies and to introduce new institutions from the aspects of community and state in order to prevent and intervene suicide effectively.
Survival Experiences of those who repetitively attempted suicide was a process of life in which one can grow and become an adult via the "getting out of the swamp." In order to help those who repetitively attempted suicide as the high risk group in suicide problem, in-depth understanding and empathy about their life are preferredly essential. In particular, those who repetitively attempted suicide strongly think they are not understood by others and do not open up to people, and thus nurses should have professional and expert skills and abilities in order to apply intervention techniques appropriate to their specific demands and to present superior holistic nursing.