Citation

Jefee-Bahloul H, Hanna RC, Brenner AM. Acad. Psychiatry 2014; 38(6): 768-770.

Affiliation

University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA, hussam.jefeebahloul@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Psychiatric Publishing)

DOI

10.1007/s40596-014-0077-z

PMID

24609801

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this report is to study the impact of a pilot educational event on psychiatry residents' attitudes towards suicidal patients, understanding of their family members' experience, and intended management of patients who died by suicide. METHODS: A panel of suicide loss survivors spoke to psychiatry residents during an educational event. Psychiatry residents who attended the event were asked to complete a survey after the event. RESULTS: About a third of residents (29.4 %) reported encountering a patient suicide during training. Overall, psychiatry residents subjectively felt the program had a positive impact on their understanding of suicide loss and on their attitudes towards suicide and towards engagement with family members of patients who died by suicide. CONCLUSIONS: The data collected in this study suggest that educational programs focused on patient suicide from the surviving families' perspective may have a positive impact on the attitudes and future practice of residents.

Language: en