‘Don’t push me aside, Doctor’: Suicide attempters talk about their support needs, service delivery and suicide prevention in South Africa

Abstract

Few studies have explored the expressed support needs of suicide attempters in developing countries. Data, collected via in-depth interviews with suicide attempters admitted to a South African hospital, were analysed using thematic content analysis. Participants explicitly asked for integrated psycho-social services at a primary health care level and say they require assistance with alleviating psychiatric symptoms, establishing connectedness, interpersonal conflict and solving socio-economic problems. Findings highlight the importance for suicide prevention of (1) considering interpersonal and contextual socio-economic factors in addition to the psychiatric causes of suicidal behaviour; and (2) multilevel strategies, intersectoral collaboration and integrated person-centred primary health care.