title: Healing and recovering after a suicide attempt: a grounded theory study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the healing and recovery process following a suicide attempt over 12 months ago.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Literature has explored the process leading up to attempted suicide. However, there is a lack of information exploring the healing and recovery process after a suicide attempt.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative research using the grounded theory approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected during 2010-2011 from the psychiatric outpatient's centre in Taiwan. Interviews were conducted with people who had attempted suicide more than 12 months prior to data collection and had not reattempted since that time (n = 14). Constant comparison analysis was used to scrutinise the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings demonstrated that healing and recovering evolved in five phases: (1) self-awareness: gained self-awareness of their responsibilities in life and their fear of death; (2) the inter-relatedness of life: awareness of the need to seek help from professionals, friends and family for support; (3) the cyclical nature of human emotions: reappearance of stressors and activators causing psyche disharmony; (4) adjustment: changes in adjustment patterns of behaviour, discovering and owning one's own unique emotions, deflecting attention from stressors and facing reality and (5) acceptance: accepting the reality of life and investing in life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The healing and recovery process symbolises an emotional navigation wheel. While each phase might follow the preceding phase, it is not a linear process, and patients might move backwards and forwards through the phases depending on the nursing interventions they receive coupled with their motivation to heal. It is important for nurses to use advanced communication skills to enable them to co-travel therapeutically with patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Listening to patients' voices and analysing their healing and recovery process could serve as a reference for psychiatric nurses to use to inform therapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mei-Ting
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Shiow-Rong
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Jeang
authors.forename: Yan-Chiou
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Ku
authors.forename: Ti
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Fan-Ko
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D066296:Grounded Theory; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attempted suicide; grounded theory; healing and recovery process; suicidal behaviour