Oncologists, oncology nurses and oncology social workers experiences with suicide: impact on patient care

Abstract

Objective To explore how oncology healthcare workers’ (HCPs) personal experiences with suicide impacts their practice with cancer patients. Design The study was designed using Grounded Theory strategies in data collection and analysis. Participants Eighteen social workers, 23 oncologists, and 20 nurses, participated in the research. Methods Themes emerged from systematic line-by-line coding of the interview transcripts. Findings HCPs reported that personal experiences with suicide: impacted the way they communicated with patients about suicide; made them vigilant about signs of suicidality; and made them aware of specific indicators of this distress. Conclusions HCPs drew a direct line between their experiences with suicide to the ways in which they care for their patients. Implications Increasing HCP awareness of these issues alongside training using evidence-based guidelines for identifying and responding to suicide risk in patients will ensure providing the best quality of care for patients.