Setting up suicide prevention plans at the local level: The methodology of focus groups with stakeholders

Abstract

In the prevention of suicide, there is a need to transform clinical studies into health promotion by a cooperation with territorial agencies. A survey on a group of stakeholders was performed with the methodology of focus group. The evaluation criteria used by the participants were practical and not methodological and were closely linked to the stakeholders' point of view. High importance was given to building a network in the territory and some indications came out for each target group (e.g., interventions in schools for adolescents). In conclusion, a qualitative survey on the stakeholders' opinion is useful, but it needs a steering that integrates the different points of view and joins them with methodological requirements and funds availability. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.