[Qualitative study of parents' experience after their teen's suicide attempt]. / Étude qualitative de l'expérience des parents après la tentative de suicide de leur adolescent.

INTRODUCTION: Suicidal attempts are frequent during adolescence and concern the whole family, particularly parents whose role is crucial in provision of therapeutic support. Yet very few studies have been performed bearing on their lived experience. In this study, we will analyze the experience of parents after the suicidal attempt of their adolescent. PARTICIPANTS & METHODS: Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews of 13 parents of teenagers followed in child and adolescent psychiatry for suicidal behavior. Interview included 5 to 6 open and conversational questions. We analyzed interviews, after transcription, using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach. RESULTS: The parents' wellness and behavior are directly affected by their child's mental status. When they are informed of the suicidal attempt, they feel very deep sadness, in a form of initial distress which is part of the grieving process regarding their image of idealized parents. They feel anger against the teenager, their anger is also directed against family members and close friends as well as against caregivers. Given the uncertainty, they doubt their own educative and empathetic competences, and lack confidence in their capacity for providing help. They express their need for help and support with regard to understanding their child's suicidal attempt, with regard to the emotional turmoil they experience and in reinforcing their competencies as carers. CONCLUSION: It appears that parents are extremely touched by their teenager suicidal attempt. They need a personal follow up, including familial medical care but also a personal space of support. Parents group, as well as psycho educative intervention, are also welcomed to give efficient method to lift their child.

[Suicidal behaviors in migrant youths: Male experiences]. / Comportements suicidaires à l'adolescence en situation de migration : expériences masculines.

OBJECTIVES: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents. Boys are more affected than girls, although they report fewer suicide attempts and rely less on care. Few studies have examined the experience of suicidal thoughts and behavior among young boys. In order to improve their health care, it is necessary to consider the socio-cultural aspects and the construction of the meaning given by adolescent boys to suicidal behaviors in France. METHOD: This is a qualitative, complementary and inductive study. All teens included have presented suicidal thoughts in the months preceding the inclusion. The existence of self-mutilation and/or suicidal act is sought but is not included within the criteria of inclusion, the various contexts will enrich the data. Semi-structured interviews are transcribed and analyzed by the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. RESULTS: Ten adolescents between 14 and 20 years old were included in the study. Three axes of experience emerge: the relationship to oneself, the relationship to the other, the relationship to death. Some themes are common to experiences of both boys and girls, others are more specific to the boys' experience. The inner struggle, testing one's limits and an isolating unspeakable are thus common, highlighting the difficulty for adolescents to mentalize and verbalize emotions and feelings. Difficulties in connecting with others, and feelings of loneliness and isolation, are at the core of the participants' experience. However, the experience of boys appears specific in the difficulty to represent the irreversibility of death which can lead to suicidal behavior without direct intentionality. The narrative of suicidal acts, in its formulation, is quite different from that of young girls. One can assume that the difficulty of expressing suffering could lead young boys to develop a discourse that overshadows the question of their death, or in contrast magnifies it in a rewarding stage from which they pride themselves. The fear of being isolated or rejected seems almost insurmountable for the boys interviewed. The fear of the judgment of peers or the family is mixed with the imperative to face the problem by oneself and reinforces the feeling of isolation in a retroactive loop. The story of the suicidal act can take a positive and enriching tone in the participant's stories. This only applies to adolescents with a history of suicidal gesture. The experience of acting out and its consequences seems to be integrated by the adolescent as elements which participate to a certain extent to the construction of their identity. This ameliorative feature can be compared to the hegemonic social models of masculinity. The sociological notion of gender identity makes it possible to think of this construction in a dynamic way and to propose adaptations of the caregivers' attitude during the first interviews with a suicidal teenager. During the first meetings, the caregiver should explore the adolescent's representations of the suicidal crisis in a neutral, self-interested, and unbiased way, including when the representations are disturbing or shocking for the caregiver. For example, when the patient values or glorifies suicidal behavior or when care is experienced as a sign of weakness and vulnerability. Respect of these proposals can indeed support weakened narcissistic foundations and favor encounter and alliance. This can only be done with the conviction that these representations are not frozen, but in construction, and that they can be secondarily mobilized in the therapeutic relationship. For that purpose, a work of elaboration on the representations of the masculinity will be able to lead the young person to reconsider his perception of care and suicidal behaviors. Reflexivity on the part of the caregiver about his own representations of masculinity seems necessary. CONCLUSION: Therapeutic management must explore and respect the adolescent's representations of masculinity and then mobilize them to bring the young person to reconsider his perception of care and suicidal behavior.

[Methods to improve suicidal adolescents' compliance to care after emergency discharge: A literature review]. / Comment améliorer l'adhésion aux soins des adolescents suicidants après une prise en charge aux urgences : une revue de la littérature.

OBJECTIVES: Suicidal adolescents admitted in an Emergency Department (ED) present a high risk of suicidal reattempts. Poor observance of follow-up in this particular group imped the efficacity of the treatment. We propose to summarize the international literature on ED interventions promoting suicidal adolescents' adherence to care. METHOD: We carried out a comprehensive review of papers listed in PubMed, PsycInfo, and CINHAL databases using keywords about adolescence, suicide, and ED. We also manually consulted the main journals specialized in suicidology (Crisis and Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior) and adolescence (Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Journal of Adolescent Health, Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l'Adolescence). We selected the relevant articles describing or evaluating one or more interventions initiated in the ED and designed to promote adolescent adherence to post-emergency care. The results are presented in a narrative review form. RESULTS: Interventions are organized in three groups: interventions that take place solely at the ED (problem-solving interventions and educational interventions directed to families) and interventions that take place during and after emergency care (we included in this group the ED-Care program, the FISP program, and the SAFETY program), to which should be added interventions that take place prior to care, in particular specific trainings for medical and paramedical teams. Small samples and barriers in measuring adherence to care make statistical comparisons difficult, yet the interventions that seem most effective are those that target the time both during and after ED discharge, those which are implemented most rapidly after discharge, those which actively include parents, and those which involve an implication of the families about barriers to follow-up. CONCLUSION: Our results show an effectiveness of complete programs on short-term compliance but no conclusion can be drawn on long-term effects. Most comprehensive care programs are based on the principle of adolescent compliance, which remains problematic. Until today, no ideal protocol exists to improve short-term as well as long-term compliance to care among adolescents after a suicide attempt. We have to improve our understanding of facilitators and barriers to follow-up using quantitative as well as qualitative research studies. Although it is well established that parents' involvement in the early stages of care is essential, little is known about the underlying processes. In these situations, qualitative studies could help to better target interventions that lead more particularly to follow up compliance in adolescence.