Abstract
Purpose: To examine the opinions of public health nurses and psychiatric social workers responsible for municipalities' suicide prevention countermeasures regarding the following three areas of concern: residents' awareness of suicide, local characteristics that can influence suicide, and problems in implementing suicide prevention activity. This study also aimed to obtain suggestions for promoting effective suicide prevention activity. Method: Participants were 14 individuals responsible for 12 local healthcare centers and municipalities in prefecture A. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and subjected to qualitative-descriptive analysis. Results: Three categories were extracted from the opinions of staff responsible for suicide prevention countermeasures regarding residents' awareness of suicide: "high awareness or interest among residents," "accepting suicide as somebody else's problem," and "a tendency to see suicide as taboo." Six categories of local characteristics able to influence suicide were extracted. For established communities, these included "a culture of helping and watching over each other" and "being closed, cliquish, and feudalistic." For newer communities, these included "a convenient lifestyle" and "loneliness and difficulty due to weak community ties." Five categories of problems in implementing suicide prevention activity were extracted, including "a need for analysis and understanding of effects, " "municipalities' resistance and feelings of inability to do the necessary work," and "clarifying responsibility among municipal government departments." Discussion: Staff responsible for suicide prevention countermeasures indicated perceiving relatively rural areas differently than more urban areas, regarding residents' local characteristics and awareness of suicide. Also, staff indicated that problems in the division of roles between public health centers and municipal governments hindered the implementation of suicide prevention activity. These results suggest that public health centers and municipal governments should cooperate in seeking to understand the state of suicide in the community, and that municipal governments should subsequently use their understanding of local residents' characteristics to build frameworks for relationships and improved community bonds. Public health centers may facilitate suicide prevention activity by supporting these efforts.
