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Abstract
The psychological autopsy approach to studying suicide is becoming an increasingly used research method. It presents considerable methodological problems. In order to assist future researchers in this field and to help readers assess reports of psychological autopsy studies the authors have reviewed these issues on the basis of their own experience and those of other workers. The areas covered include research design, identification of subjects, sources of information and the particular issues concerned with approaching relatives and other informants, choice and recruitment of controls, the difficulties of conducting psychological autopsy interviews with relatives, problems for interviewers, the selection of appropriate measures to obtain information, and achieving valid and reasonably reliable conclusions from diverse information sources.
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“In addition, there are several limitations inherent to the psychological autopsy approach,23–25 including issues relating to the choice (and selective non-response) of control subjects and the reliance on proxy reports—the latter being prone to recall bias and measurement error.”
From Risk factors for suicide in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological autopsy studies (2022) · cites this paper as [23]
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Items 301–324 of 324
The Biology and Genetics of Suicidality
Turecki, G., & Lalovic, A. (2005) · doi:10.1002/9783527619672.ch11 · Cited by 3
Season of birth in suicidology: Neurobiological and epidemiological studies
Chotai, J. (1999) · Nordic Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/080394899427926 · Cited by 1
“…data, where one studies the covariation of method-specific or overall suicide rates in relation to the availability of various methods of suicide, either in the same community over time or among different communities (Marzuk et al., 1992; Cantor & Baume, 1998; Hawton, Arensman et al, 1998).”
BackgroundMethodSuizidprävention: Vorgehensweisen und Wirksamkeit
Althaus, D. (2005) · Verhaltenstherapie · doi:10.1159/000083696 · Cited by 2
Suicide: Etiology, Methods, and Statistics
Marc, B., & Lorin, A.-S. (2015) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-800034-2.00368-2 · Cited by 1
Forensic Psychiatry and Forensic Psychology: Psychological Autopsy
Hanafy, I., & Marc, B. (2015) · Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-800034-2.00186-5 · Cited by 1
The experience of psychologists after the suicide of their patient
Teichert, W. M. (2013) · Unisa Institutional Repository (University of South Africa)
Factors associated with adolescent suicidal gestures
Liss, H. J. (2003) · Digital Commons - University of South Florida (University of South Florida)
Understanding suicide: Conversations with the bereaved
Jacob, N. (2008) · ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University)
Suicide study : a psychological autopsy
Santos, J. H. C. (2014) · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT)
Le rapport à la maladie et le suicide chez les patients atteints de schizophrénie
Vrakas, G. (2009) · Frontières · doi:10.7202/037875ar
“…de plusieurs auteurs concernant l’autopsie psychologique : les groupes (suicide et témoin) étaient pairés selon l’âge, le sexe et le diagnostic (Hawton et al., 1998 ; Isometsa, 2001) ; les répondants étaient des membres de la famille connaissant très bien le participant, et ce, dans le…”
BackgroundSuicide and schizophrenia in China
Pictures, P. (2004)
Collins, J. (2017) · Figshare · doi:10.4225/03/5890218269cf6
“Psychological autopsy studies aim to discover the reason for an individual’s suicide through gathering as much information as possible about the circumstances of the death, including interviews with the victim’s family and other relevant people (Hawton et al., 1998).”
BackgroundBrief Interventions for Suicidal Individuals Not Engaged in Treatment
Ward‐Ciesielski, E. F. (2015) · ResearchWorks at the University of Washington (University of Washington)
Conner, K. R., Syd, P., Beautrais, A. L., Brent, D. A., Conwell, Y., Phillips, R., & Schneider, B. (2011) · Cited by 5
Suicidality in psychotic disorders; demographical, clinical, and neurocognitive correlates
Barrett, E. A. M. (2010) · NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives
Mann, J. J., & Currier, D. (2008)
Encrenaz, G., Miras, A., Contrand, B., Séguin, M., Moulki, M., Queinec, R., Fériot, A., Mougin‐Degraef, M., Bonfils, M., Marien, P., et al. (2015)
Childhood adversities as antecedents of suicide completion
Ostovar, T. (2009) · eScholarship@McGill (McGill) · doi:10.82308/753
Suicide and attempted suicide in older people
Chiu, H. F. K., Zhong, B., & Tsoh, J. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/med/9780198807292.003.0040
Devaney, J., Bunting, L., Davidson, G., Hayes, D., Lazenbatt, A., & Spratt, T. (2012)
Forensic Investigations and Victims
Gopalan, R. T. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-12930-8_20
Elliman, T. D., Conen, K. M., Terrell, D. J., & Carreno-Davidson, J. T. (2025) · Military Medicine · doi:10.1093/milmed/usaf565
Harwood (2001) · doi:10.1002/1099-1166(200102)16:2
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Hawton, K. E., Appleby, L., Platt, S., Foster, T., Cooper, J., Malmberg, A., & Simkin, S.
- Affiliations
- Warneford Hospital (GB)
- Venue
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1998-09
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 2-3
- Pages
- 269-276
- ISSN
- 0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1732968872
- Cited by
- 324
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 35
- FWCI
- 9.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Keywords
- psychological autopsy, suicide, research design, informant selection, control selection, interview validity, reliability statistics, information sources
- MeSH terms
- Autopsy, Cause of Death, Data Collection, Family Relations, Humans, Research Design, Suicide
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