title: Feeling our way in the dark: the psychiatric nursing care of suicidal people--a literature review.
abstract: Psychiatric/Mental Health nurses have a long history of being front-line carers of suicidal people, and yet the international epidemiological literature, methodological problems notwithstanding, suggests that contemporary care practices for suicidal people have much room for improvement. As a result, this paper focuses on several areas/issues of care of the suicidal person, and in so doing, critiques the extant literature, such as it is. This critique illustrates that there is a disconcerting lack of empirically induced theory to guide practice and even less empirical evidence to support-specific interventions. The paper concludes, accepting the axiomatic complexity and multi-dimensionality of suicide, and the undeniable fact that suicide is a human drama, played out in the everyday lives of people, that for Psychiatric/Mental Health nurses, caring for suicidal people must be an interpersonal endeavor; and one personified by talking and listening.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas (Tyler), 3900 University Boulevard, Tyler, TX 75799, USA. dr.johnr@suddenlink.net
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Cutcliffe
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stevenson
mesh_terms: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D013405:Suicide
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents