Page 50 - IJPS-10-2

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
“It’s like an oak tree growing slowly across a

barbed wire fence:” Learning from traumatic
experience of bereavement by suicide in later life

1
2,3
1
Trish Hafford-Letchfield *, Jeffrey R. Hanna , Evan Grant , Lesle Ryder-Davies ,
1
1
1
Nicola Cogan , Jolie Goodman , and Susan Rassmussen 1
1 Department of Social Work and Social Policy, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences,
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
2 School of Nursing and Paramedic Science, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Ulster University,
Belfast, N. Ireland, UK
3 South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, Ulster Hospital, Dundonald, N. Ireland, UK
(This article belongs to Special Issue: Active Ageing and Educational Gerontology)

Abstract

Bereavement by suicide is a traumatic and life-changing experience. However, little
is known about the lived experiences of people bereaved by suicide themselves,
and older people’s voices are notably absent from the current suicide prevention
and intervention strategies. This paper seeks to understand the different individual
experiences and pathways arising from the suicide research for people in later life who
*Corresponding author:
Trish Hafford-Letchfield have been bereaved by suicide through the lens of transformational learning. Using
(trish.hafford-letchfield@strath.ac.uk) a qualitative paradigm, we explored the critical themes and features evident in the
meaning making, coping, and adaptation needs of 24 people aged 66 – 92 years who
Citation: Hafford-Letchfield, T.,
Hanna, J.R., Grant E, Ryder- were bereaved by suicide. In-depth interviews led by researchers with lived experience
Davies, L., Cogan, N., Goodman, J., generated two themes on the centrality of experience: Critical reflection and meaning
et al. (2024). “It’s like an oak tree making in later life following suicide trauma; and the journey of discovery and how
growing slowly across a barbed
wire fence:” Learning from traumatic this interacted with social and political rights. Findings suggest that further research
experience of bereavement by is necessary to generate practice-based evidence, which identifies the impact of
suicide in later life. International bereavement by suicide on people in later life and how their needs for support might
Journal of Population Studies,
10(2):44-60. be unique when being assessed and identified; and how to respond more holistically
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0777 to older people with psychosocial problems, which stem from these learning
Received: April 22, 2023 experiences. Recommendations consider the potential for developing more service
user-led social, community-based, and therapeutic interventions, which utilizes the
Accepted: October 30, 2023
authentic knowledge of older people with lived experiences.
Published Online: December 20, 2023
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). Keywords: Bereavement; Suicide; Later life; Transformational learning; Peer support
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, 1. Introduction
provided the original work is
properly cited. Suicide is recognized globally as a public health priority (the World Health Organisation,
Publisher’s Note: AccScience 2014; 2021), warranting a multisectoral public health approach to strengthening suicide
Publishing remains neutral with prevention strategies (United Nations, 2015; World Health Organization, 2019, 2021). In
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional the United Kingdom, suicide rates are highest in midlife (45 – 54 years) (UK Parliament,
affiliations. 2022), and many who die by suicide may leave behind a bereaved older parent, carer,

Volume 10 Issue 2 (2024) 44 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0777