Can Postvention Be Prevention?
Abstract
Background. There has been recent interest in postvention activities which involve provision of support to family members and others affected by a suicide death. Aims. To review the current status of postvention support, including definitions used and the objectives and effectiveness of support activities for people bereaved by suicide. Methods. Selected controlled studies of support activities and programs are reviewed with narrative comment. Results. Not applicable. Conclusions. Effective postvention support can be viewed as contributing toward suicide prevention among those people who are bereaved by suicide. Further development of support programs is needed.
References
2005). A reflection on suicide survivor. Crisis, 26, 38–39.
(2006). Can postvention be prevention? Abstract Book, 11th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behavior. Psychiatria Danubina, 18 (suppl. 1), 125.
(2005, September). Suicide postvention service delivery in different countries/cultures. Symposium at the XXIII World Congress, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Durban, South Africa.
(2002). European directory of suicide survivor services. Le Baradé: IASP.
(2003). Major depressive disorder in adolescents exposed to a friends suicide. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 1294–1300.
(1972). Survivors of suicide. Springfield, IL: Charles Thomas.
(2004). An active postvention program. Crisis, 25, 30–32.
(2007). The impact of relationship type on the grief journey of those bereaved through suicide and its implications for service providers. Living Hope, Inaugural Australian Postvention Conference, May 2007, Book of Abstracts (23). Sydney: University of NSW.
(2001a). Bereavement after suicide. How far have we come and where do we go from here? Crisis, 22, 102–108.
(2001b). Mapping grief: An active approach to grief resolution. Death Studies, 25, 531–548.
(2005, September). Video: Reaching out, messages of hope. Workshop at the XXIII World Congress, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Durban, South Africa.
(2000). The impact of suicide on relatives and friends. In , The international handbook of suicide and attempted suicide (pp. 467–484). Chichester: Wiley.
(1995). After the loss: Bereavement after suicide and other types of death. In , The impact of suicide (pp. 7–39). New York: Springer.
(2001). Group intervention for widowed survivors of suicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 31, 428–441.
(2002). Exposure to suicide: Incidence and association with suicidal ideation and behavior: United States, 1994. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 32, 321–328.
(2003). Networking to support suicide survivors. Crisis, 24, 29–31.
(2006). Service for suicide survivors opens in Brazil. News Bulletin IASP, Dec. 2006, 1.
(2002). Assistance from local authorities versus survivors needs for support after suicide. Death Studies, 26, 647–668.
(1992). The Los Angeles Survivors-after-Suicide program. An evaluation. Crisis, 13, 23–34.
(1998). Suicide survivor programs in IASP member countries. In , Suicide prevention: The global context (pp. 293–297). New York: Plenum.
(2001). Helping suicide survivors. In , Suicide prevention. Resources for the millennium (pp. 189–212). Philadelphia: Brunner-Routledge.
(2004, October). The StandBy Suicide Bereavement Response Service. Paper presented at the 11th Annual Suicide Prevention Australia National Conference, Sydney: SPA, University of NSW.
(2007). Replicating the Standby Response Service, a national approach to trialing and testing a bereavement response service. Living Hope, Inaugural Australian Postvention Conference, May 2007, Book of Abstracts (30). Sydney: University of NSW.
(1996). Suicide: How to survive as a survivor? Crisis, 17, 136–142.
(2005). Suicide survivorship: An unknown journey from loss to gain, from individual to global perspective. In , Prevention and treatment of suicidal behavior, from science to practice (pp. 351–369). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(2004). What helps and what hinders the process of surviving the suicide of somebody close? Crisis, 25, 134–139.
(2003). Helping people bereaved by suicide. British Medical Journal, 327, 177–178.
(2000). The mental health of the peers of suicide completers and attempters. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Sciences, 41, 301–308.
(2006). Telematic technologies in mental health caring: A web-based psychoeducational program for adolescent suicide survivors. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 27, 461–474.
(2004). Interventions for suicide survivors: A review of the literature. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 34, 337–349.
(2003). Does grief counseling work? Death Studies, 27, 765–786.
(2003). Loss by suicide. A risk factor for suicidal behavior. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 41, 34–41.
(2003). Suicide survivors: The aftermath of suicide and suicidal behavior. In , Death and dying: A reference handbook (pp. 339–350). Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage.
(2004). Complicated grief in survivors of suicide. Crisis, 25, 12–18.
(2006). The operation of a national helpline for suicide survivors in the UK. Abstract Book, 11th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behavior. Psychiatria Danubina, 18 (suppl. 1), 108–109.
(2002). Group intervention for children bereaved by the suicide of a relative. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 505–513.
(2000). Adults mourning suicide: Self-reported concerns about bereavement, needs for assistance, and help-seeking behavior. Death Studies, 24, 1–19.
(2000). Is it possible to adapt to the suicide of a close individual? Results of a 10-year prospective follow-up study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 46, 182–190.
(1999). Psychological symptoms of close relatives of suicide victims. European Journal of Psychiatry, 13, 33–39.
(2001). The efficacy of bereavement interventions: Determining who benefits. In , Handbook of bereavement research, consequences, coping, and care (pp. 705–737). Washington: American Psychological Association.
(2006). SOPRoxi: A research-intervention project for suicide survivors. Crisis, 27, 39–41.
(2005). Treatment of complicated grief. A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 293, 2601–2608.
(1969). Prologue: Fifty-eight years. In , On the nature of suicide (pp. 1–30). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
(