Rural suicide in Newfoundland and Labrador: A qualitative exploration of health care providers’ perspectives

Introduction Residents of rural regions may have higher and unique suicide risks. Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is a Canadian province replete with rural regions. Despite an abundance of rural suicide research, heterogeneity in rural regions may preclude amalgamating findings to inform prevention e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLOS ONE
Main Authors: Pritchard, Tyler R., Buckle, Jennifer L., Thomassin, Kristel, Lewis, Stephen P.
Other Authors: Banoub, Joseph, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024
Subjects:
Newfoundland
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306929
https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306929
Description
Summary:Introduction Residents of rural regions may have higher and unique suicide risks. Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is a Canadian province replete with rural regions. Despite an abundance of rural suicide research, heterogeneity in rural regions may preclude amalgamating findings to inform prevention efforts. Thus, exploring the unique needs of NL is needed. Importantly, health care providers (HCP) may afford unique perspectives on the suicide-related needs or concerns of rural life. We asked HCPs of residents of rural NL their perceived suicide risk factors, concerns, and needs for rural NL. Method Twelve HCPs of rural residents of NL completed virtual semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis [13,14]. Results HCPs noted individual, psychological, social, and practical factors linked to rural-suicide risk and subsequent needs. Findings highlight the unique challenges of residing and providing health care in rural NL and inform prevention and intervention efforts.

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