Revisioning the narrative
By: Hilary Causer, Anna Conolly & Ruth Riley
The theme for this years World Suicide Prevention Day is Changing the Narrative on Suicide.
It is a theme that aligns well with the focus of our research on suicide in women nurses. We use the word ‘revisioning’ in the title of our Wellcome Trust funded study to describe our groundbreaking and transformative approach. Our aim is to revision the way that suicide in women nurses is understood and thought about; to revision our ways of researching by including women nurses through co-production; to revision how we learn by using creative and novel research methods; and to revision how we listen by hearing the experiences of women nurses, and the views and ideas of the public.
Revisioning ways of thinking
We are working with nurses for nurses to revision the ways in which nurse distress and suicidality are articulated and understood. Across our five studies we will be implementing new ways of thinking to help us understand what contributes to personal suffering, distress and suicidality for diverse populations of women nurses. We will be exploring forms of workplace injustices and inequality, and how they operate and affect each other, using a feminist and intersectional approach. As we learn, we will be sharing our knowledge with health sector leaders and policy makers, so that future research and preventative work can incorporate our findings.
Revisioning ways of researching
Co-production with people affected by nurse suicide is central to our work. We consulted nurses as ‘experts by experience’ during the development of the project. Two online consultation exercises helped us to understand nurses’ perspectives on nurse suicidality and we were able to seek nurses’ input on research priorities, questions, design and desired outcomes.
As we progress with our research we are involving a co-production Nurse Advisory Group at every step of our work. We are also seeking further engagement with relevant community groups to ensure input from nurses from international nursing groups, nurse advocates and expert by experience representatives.
Revisioning ways of learning
So far, we have focused on reviewing current academic literature and national and organisational policy documents employing co-design and co-production with women nurses to ensure our research is relevant, ethical and impactful. One of the nurses involved in the critical literature review said:
“I found being involved in the literature review was really interesting and it’s so important for academics to have an appreciation of other people’s knowledge and their lived experience”.
We found that most of the research and policy documents rely on medical models. They explain suicide mainly as the result of mental illness, especially depression. As a result, this research reduces the importance of women nurses’ different experiences and ignores other important factors that may cause distress.
Revisioning ways of listening
In the next stage of our research we aim to explore contexts contributing to suicide in women nurses from the perspectives of nurses working across different settings (e.g. NHS, social care, community, private sector) in the UK. If you are a registered nurse who identifies as a woman working in the UK and would like to contribute to this research, please contact us for more information.
We are holding online focus groups with nurses from October- December 2025 where we will explore your views on factors and contexts which may be contributing to higher rates of suicide in women nurses. We welcome the views and experiences of nurses from underrepresented groups and communities.
Your contribution to this research will help to inform suicide prevention policies which take into account the wide-ranging experiences of women nurses and contexts leading to suicidal distress. The study has received ethical approval from the University of Surrey, (Reference 0347).