As representações sociais do suicídio em adolescentes: Scoping review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a complex and multifactorial phenomenon and one of the main potentially preventable causes of death. Improving the understanding of this phenomenon, through the knowledge of the social representations of suicide in adolescents, will contribute to the psychotherapeutic intervention in nursing. AIM: To map the social representations of suicide in adolescents. METHODS: Scoping review based on principles advocated by Joanna Briggs Institute. A research was carried out on the Biblioteca do conhecimento online platform, in the Open Access Scientific Repository of Portugal and in the Thesis Bank of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. Selected full-text articles, published and unpublished, in the last 10 years at the time of the research, in Portuguese, English and Spanish. Two independent reviewers performed the analysis of article relevance, extraction and synthesis of the data. RESULTS: Four studies were selected in which the social representations of adolescent suicide point to suicide as a selfish, cowardly, impulsive, thoughtless and fleeting act, but also as an act of despair and weakness and a problem-solving strategy. CONCLUSIONS: The social representations of suicide in adolescents differ between studies, with a shortage of international studies, and the use of different methodologies and different evaluation tools, so that results can not be compared. It reinforces the need to promote research in this area and to contribute to the adaptation of suicide prevention strategies.