"We are like lemmings": making sense of the cultural meaning(s) of suicide among the indigenous Sami in Sweden.
BACKGROUND
Suicide is a widespread problem among indigenous people residing in the circumpolar Arctic. Though the situation among the indigenous Sami in northern Scandinavia is better than among some other indigenous people, suicide is still regarded as a major public health issue. To adapt prevention strategies that are culturally attuned one must understand how suicide is understood within context. That is, the cultural meaning(s) of suicide.


OBJECTIVE
To explore and make sense of the cultural meaning(s) of suicide among Sami in Sweden.


METHODS
Open-ended focus group discussions (FGDs) on the topic "suicide among Sami" were carried out in 5 Sami communities in Sweden, with in total 22 strategically selected Sami participants. FGDs were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed through employing content analysis.


RESULTS
From the FGDs 4 themes emerged including "The Sami are fighting for their culture and the herders are in the middle of the fight," "Suicide as a consequence of Sami losing (or having lost) their identity," "A wildfire in the Sami world" and "Difficult to get help as a Sami."


CONCLUSIONS
Findings indicate that Sami in Sweden make sense of suicide in relation to power and identity within a threatened Sami cultural context. Suicide is then understood as an act that takes place and makes sense to others when a Sami no longer has the power to maintain a Sami identity, resulting in being disconnected from the Sami world and placed in an existential void where suicide is a solution. The findings are useful in development of culturally attuned suicide prevention among Sami in Sweden.
Sami Norwegian National Advisory Board on Mental Health and Substance Abuse (SANKS), Finnmark Hospital Trust, Karasjok, Norway; jon.petter.anders.stoor@finnmarkssykehuset.no.
Jon Petter A
JP
Stoor
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Niclas
N
Kaiser
Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Lars
L
Jacobsson
Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Ellinor Salander
ES
Renberg
Sami Norwegian National Advisory Board on Mental Health and Substance Abuse (SANKS), Finnmark Hospital Trust, Karasjok, Norway.|Centre for Sami Health Research, Department of Community Medicine, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Anne
A
Silviken
D001110:Arctic Regions; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D044382:Population Groups / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
Sami; Sweden; identity; indigenous; qualitative study; suicide