As part of world Suicide prevention day, we reached out to 3T’s to help support the important work they are doing. Below is information on research conducted into suicide prevention along with a current study-taking place. Please read below for more information from 3T’s.
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PARTICIPANTS SOUGHT FOR NEW RESEARCH ON
Accessing help for self-harm and suicidal behaviour in the Emergency Department: The experiences of service users
- 3TS Collaborate with Mental Health Research Team from Trinity School of Nursing and Midwifery
3Ts (Turn the Tide of Suicide) is a suicide prevention charity founded in 2003 working in the field of suicide prevention, and advocating for change through research, education and support.
Research has been the cornerstone of our work throughout this time. In fact, we’re passionate about it, as we believe research can help inform future suicide prevention strategies and programmes and ultimately help save lives.
A number of years ago, our ground-breaking “Suicide in Ireland Study” was the first research project to engage with Irish families to learn about the actual lived lives lost to suicide. You can learn more about this study here.
And so, with our latest research, we are reaching once again behind the statistics, speaking to real people about their real lived experience. Once again, we believe that the voices of service-users are key to understanding how response and outcomes may be improved. Over the past year or so, we’ve been collaborating with a team of researchers from the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, led by Dr Louise Doyle, to explore some of the issues arising for people Accessing Help for Self-harm and Suicidal Behaviour in the Emergency Department.
In 2017, there were 11,600 presentations to Emergency Departments (ED) nationally for treatment of self-harm.
As the Emergency Department is often the first port of call for those who have attempted suicide or have engaged in serious self-harm, it represents an important setting for suicide prevention and early intervention. For this reason, the research team are particularly interested in hearing from those who have themselves presented or have presented with a family member or friend.
To date, the team have interviewed approximately 80% of their target number of participants for the study.
Recruitment of study participants is ongoing.
The research team would love to hear from you if you have:
- Presented to the ED in Ireland with self-harm or suicidal thoughts/behaviour in the past 5 years;
- Are over 18 years of age
Participants are invited to speak then with the researchers, in a semi-structured interview, which is generally conducted face-to-face but can also be done over the phone. This lasts approximately 1 ½ hours, during which time the participant has the opportunity to describe their personal experience and their feelings around accessing help in A&E at this most difficult time.
Rest assured the rights and dignity of participants are respected throughout this study and the team adhere to models of good practice related to recruitment, voluntary inclusion, informed consent, privacy, confidentiality and withdrawal without prejudice.
We would love to hear from you if you would like to participate in this study.
If you are interested in taking part in this study, please contact Dr Louise Doyle by email louise.doyle@tcd.ie.
If you would like to learn more about 3Ts work, please visit www.3ts.ie.
