Citation

Lu YJ, Chang HJ, Tung YY, Hsu MC, Lin MF. J. Psychiatr. Ment. Health Nurs. 2011; 18(5): 449-456.

Affiliation

Counseling Psychologist, Municipal Fusing Junior High School Doctoral Student, Department of Guidance and Counselling, National Chunghua University of Education Associate Professor, Institute of Education Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City Associate Professor, College of Nursing Taipei Medical University, Taipei Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2850.2010.01687.x

PMID

21539691

Abstract

ACCESSIBLE SUMMARY: •  A supervised volunteer programme can provide safe care for suicide survivors. •  Compared with newly trained volunteers, volunteers with at least 1 year of experience are more effective with suicide survivors with greater psychological distress. •  Changes in psychological distress of suicide survivors occur after 2 months.

ABSTRACT: The crisis level in the worldwide suicide rate has revealed a severe suicide problem in Taiwan that is now well above the world average of 16 per 100 000 individuals. Many countries have relied on suicide care volunteers training programmes to conduct suicide prevention programmes. However, there is a dearth of research evaluating the effect of volunteers on psychological distress and the impact of volunteer experience level. An evaluation of the impact of experienced and novice volunteers in alleviating psychological distress of suicide survivors was conducted. A supervised programme trained 15 volunteers at Years 1 and 2. Year 1 volunteers completed 400 h of service with continuing education. Programme evaluation occurred after Year 2 volunteers had completed training. Eighty-two suicide survivors were recruited. With 60 suicide survivors completing 3 month of volunteer care, a significant group difference with time interaction in suicide survivors who exhibited moderate to severe distress between the veteran care and novice care groups was found. Compared with novice volunteers, veteran volunteers with at least 1 year of experience are more effective with suicide survivors reporting higher psychological distress.

Language: en