Some Water, a Seat, and to See My Loved One: First Responders' Need to Understand and Respond to Survivors’ Needs at the Scene of a Suicide Loss

• In Event: Improving Law Enforcement through Training

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a focus group study exploring the needs and experiences of families and friends who experienced a suicide loss (suicide survivors). Three focus groups were conducted with 15 family members of suicide survivors. Despite targeted recruitment strategies, for all genders and races to participate, the participants were all white females. The team audiotaped the focus groups and had a professional transcriptionist provide word documents. The team read the transcripts individually, and then as a group. They utilized concept mapping (Pope, 2000), and they organized the data according to Maslow’s hierarchy. Findings revealed survivors’ needs ranged from immediate and basic at the scene (e.g. glass of water, need to sit down, need to see loved one’s body) to longer-term growth needs (e.g. dealing with depression, retrieving a loved one’s belongings, death notifications, isolation, etc.). Participants shared additional distress with first responders’ requirement to handle scenes as crime scenes until further investigations were conducted. The presentation concludes with a discussion about the suicide survivors’ interactions with 911 operators, emergency first responders, and police personnel. Recommendations based on these findings suggest first responder training, informed by victim’s perspectives, is essential to utilizing informed and coordinated responses to suicide deaths.

Authors

• Jeanna M. Mastrocinque, York College of Pennsylvania

• Jed W. Metzger, Nazareth College

• Renae Carapella-Johnson, Family Service Society

• Catherine Cerulli, University of Rochester