Suicide is a worldwide public health issue which has substantial consequences and The World Health Organization (WHO) fears that mental illness will be the largest public health matter in 2030. About 40 times a day Swedish police intervene in suicide cases (polisen.se, 2020) and on Gotland there are both suicide attempts and fulfilled suicide beyond the national average (Public Health Agency, 2020). Since the first quarter of 2020, the education initiative Acute care of suicidal persons" (AOSP) has been conducted in line with a government assignment that the Police Authority has undertaken. This study uses semi-structured interviews to investigate and evaluate the Police Authority's educational efforts and work to prevent suicide on Gotland. Furthermore, the study examines the perceived benefit of the educational initiative AOSP and how the participants experience their self-efficacy to intervene with people who struggle with suicidal behaviour. Previous research shows that qualified and educated police officers will play a crucial role in suicide prevention (Marzano et al., 2016) and police officers' self-efficacy should be strengthened for an effective suicide prevention strategy (Osteen et. Al, 2014). It also appears that factual knowledge combined with practical training generates the best conditions for police officers to handle the encounter with suicidal persons (Isaac et al., 2009). It appears in this study that all interviewees value the education and that the consequences of the education are predominantly good as the participants feel assured in the encounter with mental illness and that in the long run they conduct a better suicide prevention. All informants describe that their self-efficacy to handle the encounter with a suicidal person has been strengthened and that the consequences from the educational initiative in the form of both manifest and latent functions have affected the suicide prevention on Gotland mainly in positive ways.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kau-85024 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Jarlsbo, Mathilde |
| Publisher | Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för samhälls- och kulturvetenskap (from 2013) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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