title: Suicide assessment by psychiatric nurses: a phenomenographic study.
abstract: Although suicide assessment has been researched, nurses haven't been included in studies nor has this been explored from a phenomenographic perspective. Suicide assessment by nurses was investigated using a phenomenographic design. Data were collected through observations, vignettes, and interviews. Phenomenographic analysis discovered four qualitative differences in suicide assessment among nurse participants: reliance on (1) examples of other suicide cases, (2) intuition, (3) others' assessments, and (4) prior experience. The categories were classified into a three dimensional theoretical structure of suicide assessment: (a) Knowledge, (b) Method, and (c) Reference. Variability in participants' assessments established a structure of suicide assessment that furthers understanding of how nurses assess suicide and provides implications for practice.
authors.affiliation: Rhode Island College, School of Nursing, Smithfield, Rhode Island and Providence, 600 Mount Pleasant Ave., Fogarty Life Science, Providence, RI 02908-1991, USA. jaflague@ric.edu
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Aflague
authors.forename: Ginette G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Ferszt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires