How People Live with or Get Over Being Suicidal?

The article is qualitative research since it reviews various qualitative researches on suicidal behavior. Hence, it reviews articles, which have no empirical data. Consequently, no empirical data analysis approaches are necessary for the presentation of the research findings and conclusions. Rather, the article narrates various non-empirical findings of past researches (from 1997-2007) on suicidality as a central aspect of borderline personality disorder.

Published in 2008, the article, ‘How People Live with or get over being Suicidal: A Review of Qualitative Studies’ was published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing. The article is co-authored by Lakeman and Fitzgerald. The authors seek “to systematically review qualitative research, which addresses how people live with suicidality or recover a desire to live” (Lakeman & Fitzgerald, 2008, p.114). Hence, it reviews the literature on coping with suicidality.

The author’s main problem is that suicide constitutes a serious health dilemma. Therefore, they endeavor to provide different interpretations of mechanisms that can be deployed to deal with the crisis. Controlling desperate behavior is a success factor for mitigating incidents of suicide. Since cases of suicide are recorded across all people who are segregated on demographic grounds, the article notes that suicidal behavior amounts to a serious and significant public health problem across the globe.

Surprisingly, incidents of suicide are preventable through various social work and psychiatric interventions. Consequently, it is crucial to consider the best practices in mitigating suicidal behavior. This claim forms the main logic for conducting a review of past literature on suicidality by the two researchers. Their main concern is the witnessed over-emphasis of past research on suicidal epidemiology and the little focus on experiences of people who have suicidal problems. By studying the experiences of people with suicidal problems, it becomes possible to provide evidence-based care to such individuals. Such care can yield better outcomes.

The purpose of the article is to offer a systematic appraisal of past literature on suicidal experiences to help in drawing common themes on the subject. The authors use qualitative data from 12 different studies conducted between 1997 and 2007.

Hence, they welcome any data provided it is collected from the subjects to help in drawing different interpretations that can be pivotal in developing or building a theoretical construct. Indeed, this key characteristic upholds the grounded theory research. Such a research strategy involves building theory from deductions and inductions. It helps in explaining behaviors while putting emphasis on hypothesis building and development. The ground theory begins with data collection without putting any effort into formulating theoretical frameworks. Rather, the presumption emerges from data acquired through various observations. Through the data, the researcher can generalize the findings. Testing may result in the confirmation or non-justification of predications.

The researchers use systematic research methodology in their analysis of secondary data drawn from 12 different sources. The systematic assessment implies reviewing literature based on logical relationships, as opposed to beliefs. It involves examining literature through a comprehensive and preplanned search strategy. Through this approach, the “findings are extracted from selected papers and synthesized by way of content analysis in narrative and tabular form” (Lakeman & Fitzgerald, 2008, p.114).

The authors pay incredible attention to mitigating challenges that may lower the reliability and dependability of research findings, for instance, preconceived interpretations. The search process was accomplished electronically in the CINAHL Plus library using selected keywords. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were based on five main aspects. The selected article needed to have participants who had encountered ideation of committing suicide portrayed suicide ideation explicitly, and the article must have had some accounts derived from people who had suicidal thoughts. The article also needed to discuss various factors that could help in suicide management and/or bear some accounts of recovering from contemplation to commit suicide.

After conducting a systematic review of the literature, the article concludes that people experience immense struggles while coping with suicidality. They view suicide as a mechanism for copping or failure to cope with living with suicidality. They note that people can overcome or alter their suicidal thoughts by simply forming the right connections. They insist that scholars should identify nurses who handle people with suicidal behavior or thoughts as instrumental in helping to guarantee healthy and productive living by altering their (people) approaches and perceptions about life.

Reference List

Lakeman, R., & Fitzgerald M. (2008). How people live with or get over being suicidal: A review of qualitative studies. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 64(2), 114–126.