Counsell, Quentin (2017) The Search for Help. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
In order to gain membership of a support group, a person needs to demonstrate they have a legitimate right to be a member of the group and that the group is an appropriate place for them to seek help. The aim of this study was to investigate how new members of online suicide support groups bid for group membership; how they present a search for help in their membership bid; and how the search for help and membership bid are understood by current members of the group. Newcomer bids from one large online suicide support group formed the data for this study. Membership categorisation analysis was used as the analytic framework. Results revealed that to be granted membership of the group, newcomers needed to lay claim to being suicidal, account for this claim, and present as having tried to seek help from people they are obligated to seek help from. Failure to meet these thresholds jeopardised newcomer’s membership bids. Whilst in some cases, the same bid was understood differently by current members, however when in agreement, current members showed acceptance or rejection of the bid in similar ways. Newcomers that failed to meet these thresholds were sometimes offered the chance to re-construct their accounts in order to display an authentically suicidal identity and having conducted an adequate search for help.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Andrea Lamont-Mills |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Aug 2025 01:15 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Aug 2025 01:15 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | suicide, suicidal ideations, membership categorisation analysis, online support groups, online peer support. |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52234 |
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