title: Methodological proposal for studying suicide as a complex phenomenon.
abstract: The authors present a methodological proposal for studying suicide and suicide attempts from a combined socio-anthropological, epidemiological, and psychosocial perspective. This interdisciplinary and complex research model simultaneously examined individual, socioeconomic, historical/cultural, and population data as few studies have succeeded to date. Considering that the present study was conducted in a specific social reality, the authors created a methodological approach to comprehend the effects of a crisis in an industrial restructuring process in a mining company town in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, that was associated with unusually high suicide rates. Since it referred to a small geographic area (with only 100,000 inhabitants), the research is considered an ideal case study. The authors created different strategies to trace the local epidemiological profile, adapted a psychosocial autopsy technique to elucidate suicide cases and a psychosocial harm assessment technique to comprehend suicide attempts, and conducted a local analysis of the socio-cultural context. The methods proposed here (with advantages and limitations) proved productive for elucidating the study hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. cecilia@claves.fiocruz.br
authors.forename: Maria Cecília de Souza
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Minayo
authors.forename: Fátima Gonçalves
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Cavalcante
authors.forename: Edinilsa Ramos
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: de Souza
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data