The Aftermath of Suicide among African Americans

Abstract

This article describes an exploratory qualitative study that examined the impact of suicide on a group of 19 African American families who lost a family member to suicide. The majority of suicide survivors were women who lost children to suicide. The participants were interviewed for an average of 2.5 hours using a semi-structured interview that was developed by the author. The majority of survivors felt that they had to go through the grieving process alone. Those survivors who did receive support most often received it from family members and friends. Most of the respondents felt that the support, if any, that was offered from the church was unhelpful. Negative attitudes about suicide from the broader community and from family members made it more difficult for these families to grieve.