Quality of Life of Adults Who Have Attempted Suicide

• Main Author: Hoefer, Karen
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2020
• Subjects: Quality of Life; Adult Suicide; Reasons for Living; Suicide; Life Course; Sociology
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3684; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5155&context=etd

This study focuses on the quality of life of suicide attempt survivors and the trajectories of their lives after their last attempt in the past two to ten years. Employing both a quantitative and qualitative approach but focusing largely on the qualitative data, I collected demographic data, gathered responses on an abbreviated Reasons for Living Inventory, and conducted open-ended phone interviews with 26 participants. The primary life course finding is that participants’ suicide attempts are often built on years of dealing with mental illness. The analysis also dispels many stereotypes associated with people who have attempted suicide. I explore patterns in participants’ reports of their experiences surrounding their attempt(s), the stigma they felt (largely internal), and how they tried to alleviate that stigma and speak openly about their experiences with suicide attempts and ideations.