This document discusses a research project on family resiliency after adolescent suicide. The researcher conducted interviews with 7 families who had experienced an adolescent suicide to understand how they were able to survive and positively change after the experience. The results identified 4 types of family responses: energetic families who quickly rebounded and continued to emerge; stunned families with a late rebound and continued emergence; combative families with a fast rebound but discontinuous emergence; and tenacious families with a late and discontinuous rebound. The researcher proposes interventions for each family type to encourage resiliency, such as encouraging social support, identifying needed resources, and providing long-term professional support.

1. AAS Positive Psychology & Suicide
Emerging despite the indelible wound :
A positive psychological approach to
understand the family functioning after
adolescent suicide
Christine Genest, PhD
Associate Professor
Faculté des sciences infirmières, Université de Montréal

2. Plan
• Family resiliency concept
• Suicide survivors
• Research project : Emerging despite the
incredible wound
• Methodology
• Results
• Future in suicidology

3. Family resiliency concept
• Resiliency concept:
• Social science (Werner et Smith, 1982)
• Positive psychology paradigm
• Family resiliency:
• Developped when family faces a challenging situation
or a crisis
• Allow family to grows, learns and changes positively
from this experience

4. Suicide survivors
• Particular bereaved persons:
• Violent, self-inflicted death
• Stigma, shame, culpability
• More at risk of : (Gallo, & Pfeffer, 2003; ; Jordan, 2001; Sethi, & Bhargava, 2003)
• Suicide, suicidal attemps
• PTSD
• Adolescent suicide is challenging for families because not
in the natural order of things
• But:
• Lot of families were able to survive this experience and
even positively change through this experience.

5. Research project : Emerging
despite the incredible wound
• Research goal:
• To understand and explain family resiliency following an
adolescent suicide
• Methodology:
• Grounded theory approach based on Glaser and Strauss
(Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998)
• Theoretical sampling : n=17 participants (7 families)
• Data: (± 2000 pages)
• Semi-structured interviews (22h20)
• Socio-demographic questionnaires
• Personal documentation (diary, homily…)
• Field notes

6. Research project : Emerging
despite the incredible wound
Adolescents presentation

7. Research project : Emerging
despite the incredible wound
Families presentation

8. Research project : Emerging
despite the incredible wound
Cataclysm
Lifebuoys
(Inside or outside
family)
Rebounce
Emergence
Sinking
Learn
Grow
Actions
(within or outside
family)
Family
context
Social context
Suicide
Emotions

9. Research project : Emerging
despite the incredible wound
• Energic family
• Fast rebound and continuous emergence
• Possible interventions:
• Encourage family to invest its energy not only
toward suicide, to maintain other activities like
sports, hobbies.
• Let the family knows that formal support exist like
bereaved groups
• Offer disponibility so family can come back for
informations when needed. Make sure informations
are available.

10. Research project : Emerging
despite the incredible wound
• Stunned families
• Late rebound and continuous emergence
• Usually there is a lack of lifebuoys in those families
• Possible interventions:
• Collaborate with the family to identify which
lifebuoys are lacking
• Offer ressources to compensate the gap
• Identify the right time to intervene and help the
family to get out of helplessness

11. Research project : Emerging
despite the incredible wound
• Combative families
• Fast rebound and discoutinuous emergence
• Usually those families face other crisis during
there emergence
• Possible interventions:
• Offer long term support
• Take care of the siblings, direct them toward
adapted ressources
• Draw up the inventory of all the support available
within the family network

12. Research project : Emerging
despite the incredible wound
• Tenacious families
• Late rebound and discountinuous emergence
• Those are the families that are more in need of
professionnal support but they have the potential to
grow and learn.
• Possible interventions:
• Encourage siblings to relate with peers so they can
express their emotions and get the social support they
need
• Ensure the relations between members of the family are
healthy, especially between parents and children
• Offer long term support and collaborate with the family
during the late rebound and the discontinuous
emergence
• Give time to the family

13. Research project : Emerging
despite the incredible wound
• Suicide prevention field:
• Possible interventions:
• Avoid isolation, contact the family again some time
after the suicide and periodically to make sure it
don’t need support
• Help family to keep memories alive but not only
those associated with the suicide itself
• Work with the extended family so it could support
the bereaved in need.

14. Future in suicidology
• Look at the strenght and ressources (lifebuoys)
of the survivors instead of only looking at their
risk factor.
• Every survivors families have the potential to
undertake the resiliency process if professionnal
help and support them

15. References
Gallo, C.L., & Pfeffer, C.R. (2003). Children and adolescents bereaved by a
suicidal death : implications for psychosocial outcomes and interventions.
Dans R.A. King, & A. Apter (Éds.), Suicide in Children and Adolescents (pp.
294-312). Cambridge
Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory.
Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine Publ Co.
Jordan, J.R. (2001). Is suicide bereavement different? A reassessment of the
literature. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 31, 91-102.
Sethi, S., & Bhargava, S.C. (2003). Child and adolescent survivors of suicide.
Crisis, 24, 4-6.
Strauss, A.L., & Corbin, J.(1998). Basics of qualitative research : techniques and
procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, Calif.:
SagePublications
Werner, E.E., & Smith, R.S. (1982). Vulnérable but Invincible. New
York:McGraw-Hill Book Company.

16. Thank you for your time and attention
christine.genest@umontreal.ca