Davies, Jan (2015) Suicide Risk Assessment: A Delicate Business. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The academic literature is replete with information about how a suicide risk assessment should be conducted. However, exactly how suicide risk assessments are performed in clinical interviews, where the discursive interactional elements unfold moment by moment, remains largely unexplored. This study examined how mental health clinicians perform suicide risk assessments in clinical interviews and how the process was discursively produced and managed. Video recordings of three clinical interviews were used as data. Two clinicians were psychologists and one a psychiatrist. All clients were over 18 years of age. Using a discursive psychology (DP) approach, sequences of talk were examined for: (a) the action that the talk performed (i.e., question, answer); (b) the situated nature of the talk; (c) the constructive features of the talk and in turn, what was constructed through the talk; and (d) the psychological perspectives displayed within the talk. There were four findings common to each of the dyads. Firstly, the suicide risk assessment was recognisable and structured as a new topic of enquiry within the clinical interview. Secondly, the suicide risk assessment was justified on the basis of either the clinician’s professional and ethical responsibilities, or the client’s diagnosis and/or symptoms. Thirdly, suicidal ideation was treated as a sensitive topic by the clinicians and the clients. Finally, the participants worked to co-construct parental identities within the discourse. These findings show that the practice of introducing the suicide risk assessment as normal business within the clinical interview is a practical way of engaging clients in the assessment process. Justifying the assessment was a successful strategy in engaging clients in the assessment process and thus has clinical utility. Displaying delicacy was hypothesised to be the “doing” of empathy but requires further investigation. The exploration of parental identity as a protective factor, within the risk assessment, may help to mitigate against suicidal behaviour and merits further research.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
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| 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: | Master of Psychology (Clinical) |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Sep 2025 01:23 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Sep 2025 01:23 |
| 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/52254 |
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