Citation

Crenshaw MR. Pastoral Psychol. 2015; 64(2): 169-183.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11089-013-0581-1

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This qualitative study ascertained the attitudes of African American clergy regarding the postvention needs of African American suicide survivors. Interviews were conducted with six African American licensed clergy with diverse educational backgrounds, ministerial experience, and counseling experience. Participants were recruited from a large metropolitan area in the Middle Atlantic region. Four major themes were developed from this study: presence in the midst of grief, nonjudgmental view of suicide completers, postvention as a collaborative approach, and suicide as an elephant in the church.

RESULTS reveal that participants acknowledge the existence of suicide within the African American community, do not possess a judgmental attitude toward suicide completers, are willing to assist suicide survivors, and are willing to refer suicide survivors to mental health professionals. © 2013, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; African American; Postvention; Suicide survivors; Clergy