EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Expert and Lay Explanations of Suicidal Behaviour: Comparison of the General Population’s, Suicide Attempters’, General Practitioners’ and Psychiatrists’ Views

Tina Zadravec, Onja Grad and Gregor SoÄ An
Additional contact information
Tina Zadravec: University Psychiatric Hospital Ljubljana, Slovenia, tina.zadravec@guest.arnes.si
Onja Grad: University Psychiatric Hospital Ljubljana, Slovenia
Gregor SoÄ An: University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2006, vol. 52, issue 6, 535-551

Abstract: Background : Different explanations of suicidal behaviour coexist today. The incompatibility of the beliefs among experts and (potential) users of medical services can influence the implementation of prevention programmes, help-seeking behaviour and adherence to treatment. Aims : The aims of the study were to identify explanatory models of suicidal behaviour and to determine possible incompatibilities between lay (the general population and suicide attempters) and expert (the general practitioners and psychiatrists) views. Methods : The Questionnaire on Attitudes towards Suicide was revised on the basis of semi-structured interviews with the general population, suicide attempters, general practitioners and psychiatrists. The revised version was then applied to each of these four groups. Results : Five explanatory models were identified: namely, personality, sociological, medical, crisis and genetic models. Significant group differences on the explanatory models were found. The lay people favoured crisis, sociological and medical models whereas the experts shared the belief in the medical, genetic and crisis models. Conclusions : The crisis model gained considerable support and was generally accepted as correct. This could be the common ground between lay people and experts and the starting point of both treatment and prevention programmes.

Keywords: attitudes of health personnel; public opinion; suicide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00207640060668408 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:52:y:2006:i:6:p:535-551

DOI: 10.1177/00207640060668408

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Social Psychiatry
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-19
Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:52:y:2006:i:6:p:535-551