Contribution of Psychological Autopsy to the Understanding of Suicidal Behaviors in French Overseas Territories
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: other.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Suicide, Mental Disorders, Prognostic Factors. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Martinique
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
The mains objectives of our project are to coordinate the monitoring of suicides and to identify common or specific suicide risk factors in four overseas DROM-COM (French Polynesia, La Reunion, French Guiana and Martinique) by comparing to a site in mainland France (Amiens). A mixed approach (quantitative and qualitative) will be used, based on semi-directed interviews of the psychological autopsy type.
Detailed description
Epidemiological studies on suicide are rare in Overseas France. Nevertheless, studies conducted independently in New Caledonia (NC) and French Guiana were able to highlight a high prevalence of suicides in minority indigenous populations (Kanaks and Amerindians). These data therefore suggest a socio-cultural variability of suicides within the different territories. Psychological autopsies (used in NC) are an innovative approach that has already proven worldwilde its effectiveness in researching socio-cultural factors and prevalence of mental disorders in suicide subjects (Inserm). However, the qualitative analysis of psychological autopsies, even if it is very complete, is limited to known factors of suicide risk. Given the ethnic specificities of suicidal behavior and the socio-cultural richness of each overseas territory, an exploratory anthropologic approach will make it possible to complete identification of risk factors for suicide or combinations of these specific factors (profiles).
Our project will improve the data collection of suicide cases with the implementation of a network in each site (Public Health Department, Emergency units, Coroner offices, GP, associations, families…). Then interview with proxies of subjects deceased by suicide will allow psychological autopsy (questionnaires SCID to detect mental disorders, Life Trajectories, to detect life events and their burden, Anthropologic for socio-cultural aspects and Psycholinguistic analysis).
The total duration of the project will be 24 months with the recruitment of a maximum of 30 cases per site. Duration of the inclusion period will be 23 months, duration of follow-up per participant 1 month. The follow-up interview will be carried out one month after the inclusion interview. It will make it possible to establish a post-vention of suicide among the bereaved and an evaluation of the impact of the psychological autopsy interviews and the life trajectories of the bereaved.
Interventions
- Other other
The interviewers will collect data from relatives using questionnaires and evaluation grids based on an identification form, a Life Trajectory questionnaire, an anthropological evaluation grid, a retrospective psychiatric diagnosis questionnaire (SCID), a socio-demographic questionnaire, a questionnaire on suicide risks and a questionnaire on emotional state.
Primary outcome measures
- Existence of risk factors and mental disorders evaluated by Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic (SCID) [Time frame: 1 month]
Secondary outcome measures (4)
- Assessment and comparison of risk factors and mental disorders [Time frame: 1 month]
- Existence or not of violence in childhood or during life among suicide cases [Time frame: 1 month]
- Score of adversity by the Life Trajectory Questionnaire [Time frame: 6 month]
- Existence of language, social and anthropological elements associated with suicide risk factors [Time frame: 6 month]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Persons close of the deceased
- Persons who knew about his/her childhood
- Age 18 or over
- Interviewed for the study between 2 and 11 months after the suicide
Exclusion criteria
- People with neuropsychiatric disorders that may affect the quality of the information collected, cognitive (memory and expression) and judgmental functions
- People who refuses to participate
- Persons referred to articles L.1121-6, L.1121-7, L. 1121-8 L.1121-1-2 of the French Public Health Code.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Observational model
- Other
Study locations
Martinique · 1 center
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Martinique - Hôpital Pierre ZOBDA QUITMAN — Fort-de-France
Publications
- Amiot M, Amadeo S, Merle S, Guidere M, Jehel L, Seguin M, Spodenkiewicz M. Identifying suicidal risk factors in the French Overseas Territories with multimethod psychological autopsy (AUTOPSOM): a mixed-methods study protocol. BMJ Open. 2024 Jul 16;14(7):e079405. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079405. PMID 39013644
Identifiers
NCT: NCT05773898 · 22_RIPH3_14 · 2022-A02413-40