Understanding and change – Parents’ perspectives of their self-poisoning children: A phenomenological study

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to describe the experiences of parents of self-poisoning in Wenzhou, China. BackgroundSelf-poisoning by a child results in severe trauma, placing parents at great risk for psychological and physical problems. However, few studies have examined the experiences of parents following the attempted suicide of their child through self-poisoning, limiting the ability to guide effective services through empirical research. MethodsThe study adopted a qualitative design and 11 parents whose children harmed themselves through self-poisoning were included. Semi-structure, face-to-face interviews were conducted and Colaizzi’s analysis method was followed. ResultsColaizzi’s method identified three key themes: against expectations, sense of guilt, and self-growth. ConclusionsThe findings highlight the need to understand experiences of parents with self-poisoning children. Nursing staff play an important role in creating a pathway to connect parents with their children. There is a need to include the voices of parents so as to not only care for self-poisoning children but also understand their suicidal behavior.