EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A COMMUNITY-BASED CRISIS INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR PEOPLE BEREAVED BY SUICIDE

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a suicide bereavement support service in reducing adverse health and social outcomes for people bereaved by suicide. Retrospective cross-sectional design, comparing clients of the service with a control group of bereaved people who had not had contact with the program. Participants were assessed on quality of life, psychological distress, suicidality, health care usage, and productivity. Clients have significantly lower levels of suicidality. There was a trend to higher quality of life and lower psychological distress. Clients had slightly higher productivity and lower health care service usage than the control group, although these differences were not statistically significant. This article demonstrates that an intervention program for people bereaved by suicide can be effective at reducing suicidality and may have a positive effect on other health and social outcomes. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.