Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T00:01:08.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How school counsellors cope with suicide attempts among adolescents — A qualitative study in Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2020

Inbar Levkovich Open the ORCID record for Inbar Levkovich [Opens in a new window]  and
Ina Vigdor
Inbar Levkovich*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Graduate Studies, Oranim Academic College of Education, Kiryat Tiv’on, Israel
Ina Vigdor
Affiliation:
Faculty of Graduate Studies, Oranim Academic College of Education, Kiryat Tiv’on, Israel
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine how school counsellors cope with suicide attempts among students in their schools. A qualitative phenomenological methodology was used. Participants included 24 Israeli high school counsellors aged 32–62. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed thematically. The findings indicate that counsellors find students’ suicide attempts difficult, disconcerting, painful and confusing to manage, and note the complex nature of their dealings with the adolescents, their families and the school administrators. Despite feeling insecure about their ability to provide help, the counsellors felt they were at the forefront of the treatment effort in the school environment. To cope with the responsibility and challenges, the counsellors relied mainly on informal sources of support. Implications for practice are discussed.

Keywords

suicide attemptschool counsellorsadolescentsqualitative study
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , June 2021 , pp. 63 - 75
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Awenat, Y., Peters, S., Shaw-Nunez, E., Gooding, P., Pratt, D., & Haddock, G. (2017). Staff experiences and perceptions of working with in-patients who are suicidal: qualitative analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 211, 103–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berg, S.H., Rørtveit, K., & Aase, K. (2017). Suicidal patients’ experiences regarding their safety during psychiatric in-patient care: a systematic review of qualitative studies. BMC Health Services Research, 17, 73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blomberg, K., & Sahlberg-Blom, E. (2007). Closeness and distance: a way of handling difficult situations in daily care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 16, 244–254.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borges, G., Nock, M.K., Abad, J.M.H., Hwang, I., Sampson, N.A., Alonso, J., … Bruffaerts, R. (2010). Twelve-month prevalence of and risk factors for suicide attempts in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71, 1617–1628.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowers, L., Simpson, A., Eyres, S., Nijman, H., Hall, C., Grange, A., & Phillips, L. (2006). Serious untoward incidents and their aftermath in acute inpatient psychiatry: The Tompkins Acute Ward Study. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 15, 226–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2015). Interviews learning the craft of qualitative research interviews (3rd ed.). Sage.Google Scholar
Carpenter, S.X. (2018). How school counselorscounsellors cope with student suicide: A qualitative study (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Missouri-Saint Louis.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 2009. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 59, 1–142. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5905.pdf Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Age-adjusted suicide rates, by state—United States 2012. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 63, 1041. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm6345.pdf Google Scholar
Christianson, C.L., & Everall, R.D. (2008). Constructing bridges of support: School counsellors’ experiences of student suicide. Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 42, 209–221.Google Scholar
Christianson, C.L., & Everall, R.D. (2009). Breaking the silence: School counsellors’ experiences of client suicide. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 37, 157–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, G.R., Bailey, E., Jorm, A.F., Reavley, N.J., Templer, K., Parker, A., … Robinson, J. (2016). Development of suicide postvention guidelines for secondary schools: A Delphi study. BMC Public Health, 16, 180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Creswell, J.W., & Poth, C.N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry research methods: Choosing among five approaches. (4th ed.). Sage.Google Scholar
Cureton, J.L., & Clemens, E.V. (2015). Affective constellations for countertransference awareness following a client’s suicide attempt. Journal of Counseling & Development, 93, 352–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darden, A.J., & Rutter, P.A. (2011). Psychologists’ experiences of grief after client suicide: A qualitative study. Omega, 63, 317–342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dilillo, D., Mauri, S., Mantegazza, C., Fabiano, V., Mameli, C., & Zuccotti, G.V. (2015). Suicide in pediatrics: epidemiology, risk factors, warning signs and the role of the pediatrician in detecting them. Italian Journal of Pediatrics, 41, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fineran, K.R. (2012). Suicide postvention in schools: The role of the school counselor. Journal of Professional Counseling: Practice, Theory & Research, 39, 14–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finlay, L., & Gough, B. (2008). Reflexivity: A practical guide for researchers in health and social sciences. Malden, MA: Blackwell Science.Google Scholar
Gal, G., Goldberger, N., Kabaha, A., Haklai, Z., Geraisy, N., Gross, R., & Levav, I. (2012). Suicidal behavior among Muslim Arabs in Israel. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47, 11–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gulfi, A., Dransart, D.A.C., Heeb, J.L., & Gutjahr, E. (2015). The impact of patient suicide on the professional reactions and practices of mental health caregivers and social workers. Crisis, 31, 202–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haklai, Z. (2019). Suicidality in Israel [in Hebrew]. Jerusalem, Israel: Information and Computer Services, Health Information Department, Ministry of Health, State of Israel.Google Scholar
Hedegaard, H., Curtin, S.C., & Warner, M. (2018). Suicide rates in the United States continue to increase. NCHS Data Brief, 309. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/ db309.pdf.Google Scholar
Kennebeck, S., Bonin, L., Brent, D., & Solomon, D. (2017). Suicidal behavior in children and adolescents: Epidemiology and risk factors. In J.A. Melin (Ed.), UpToDate. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/suicidal-behavior-in-children-and-adolescents-epidemiology-and-risk-factors Google Scholar
Lachal, J., Orri, M., Sibeoni, J., Moro, M.R., & Revah-Levy, A. (2015). Metasynthesis of youth suicidal behaviours: perspectives of youth, parents, and health care professionals. PLoS One, 10, e0127359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laido, Z., Voracek, M., Till, B., Pietschnig, J., Eisenwort, B., Dervic, K., … Niederkrotenthaler, T. (2017). Epidemiology of suicide among children and adolescents in Austria, 2001–2014. Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, 129, 121–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi-Belz, Y., Gavish-Marom, T., Barzilay, S., Apter, A., Carli, V., Hoven, C., … Wasserman, D. (2019). Psychosocial factors correlated with undisclosed suicide attempts to significant others: findings from the Adolescence SEYLE Study. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 49, 759–773.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levi-Belz, Y., Krispin, O., Galilee, G., Bodner, E., & Apter, A. (2018). Where are they now? Crisis, 39, 119–126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levy, R.L., Koehler, A.N., & Hunt, Q.A. (2019). A phenomenological investigation of therapists’ experiences when working with suicide. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 31, 147–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lund, E.M., Schultz, J.C., Thomas, K.B., Nadorff, M.R., Chowdhury, D., & Galbraith, K. (2018). ‘It’s awful when we get it wrong’: An exploratory qualitative study of vocational rehabilitation counselors’ perspectives on suicide. OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222818783933.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLoughlin, A.B., Gould, M.S., & Malone, K.M. (2015). Global trends in teenage suicide: 2003–2014. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 108, 765–780.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Medina, C.O., Kullgren, G., & Dahlblom, K. (2014). A qualitative study on primary health care professionals’ perceptions of mental health, suicidal problems and help-seeking among young people in Nicaragua. BMC Family Practice, 15, 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Education. (2020). Emergency Crisis Unit. http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/Shefi/HerumLachatzMashber/ovdanut/ Google Scholar
Munson, J.S. (2009). Impact of client suicide on practitioner posttraumatic growth (ED513082) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida]. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED513082 Google Scholar
Nichols, S.L. (2018). A phenomenological study of school counselors’ experiences following student suicide. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Liberty University.Google Scholar
Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Sage.Google Scholar
Pompili, M., Girardi, P., Ruberto, A., Kotzalidis, G., & Tatarelli, R. (2005). Emergency staff reactions to suicidal and self-harming patients. European Journal of Emergency Medicine, 12, 160–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pompili, M., Manchineli, I., & Tatarelli, R. (2003). Stigma as a cause of suicide. British Journal of Psychiatry, 183, 173–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reis, C., & Cornell, D. (2008). An evaluation of suicide gatekeeper training for school counselorscounsellors and teachers. Professional School Counseling, 11, 386–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, J., Cox, G., Malone, A., Williamson, M., Baldwin, G., Fletcher, K., & O’Brien, M. (2013). A systematic review of school-based interventions aimed at preventing, treating, and responding to suicide-related behavior in young people. Crisis, 34, 164–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schilling, E.A., Lawless, M., Buchanan, L., & Aseltine, R.H. Jr (2014). ‘Signs of Suicide’ shows promise as a middle school suicide prevention program. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 44, 653–667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shain, B. (2016). Suicide and suicide attempts in adolescents. American Academy of Pediatrics, 138, e20161420.Google ScholarPubMed
Shand, F., Vogl, L., & Robinson, J. (2018). Improving patient care after a suicide attempt. Australasian Psychiatry, 26, 145–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shenton, A.K. (2004). Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects. Education for Information, 22, 63–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherba, R.T., Linley, J.V., Coxe, K.A., & Gersper, B.E. (2019). Impact of client suicide on social workers and counselors. Social Work in Mental Health, 17, 279–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimoni, A., & Greenberger, L. (2014). School counselors deliver information about school counseling and their work: What professional message is conveyed? Professional School Counseling, 18, 15–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shneidman, E.S. (1998). The suicidal mind. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Slovak, K., & Singer, J.B. (2012). Engaging parents of suicidal youth in a rural environment. Child & Family Social Work, 17, 212–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, C., Chida, F., Nakamura, H., Akasaka, H., Yagi, J., Koeda, A., … Sakai, A. (2011). The impact of inpatient suicide on psychiatric nurses and their need for support. BMC Psychiatry, 11, 38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tallaksen, D.W., Braåten, K., & Tveiten, S. (2013). ‘… You are not particularly helpful as a helper when you are helpless’: A qualitative study of public health nurses and their professional competence related to suicidal adolescents. Vard Nord Utveckl Forsk, 33, 46–50.Google Scholar
Törnblom, A.W., Werbart, A., & Rydelius, P.A. (2013). Shame behind the masks: The parents’ perspective on their sons’ suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 17, 242–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turecki, G., & Brent, D.A. (2016). Suicide and suicidal behaviour. The Lancet, 387, 1227–1239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Windfuhr, K., Bickley, H., While, D., Williams, A., Hunt, I.M., Appleby, L., … National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness. (2010). Nonresident suicides in England: A national study. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 40, 151–158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winter, D., Bradshaw, S., Bunn, F., & Wellsted, D. (2014). A systematic review of the literature on counselling and psychotherapy for the prevention of suicide: 2. Qualitative studies. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 14, 64–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization. (2014). Preventing suicide: A global imperative. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Wurst, F.M., Mueller, S., Petitjean, S., Euler, S., Thon, N., Wiesbeck, G., & Wolfersdorf, M. (2010). Patient suicide: a survey of therapists’ reactions. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 40, 328–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yaseen, Z.S., Briggs, J., Kopeykina, I., Orchard, K.M., Silberlicht, J., Bhingradia, H., & Galynker, I.I. (2013). Distinctive emotional responses of clinicians to suicide-attempting patients-a comparative study. BMC Psychiatry, 13, 230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, A., & Bryan, J. (2015). The school counselor leadership survey: Instrument development and exploratory factor analysis. Professional School Counseling, 19, 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar