Study 1
Critical policy analysis, literature review, interviews and focus groups
Context:
Most evidence on suicidality in NHS staff, including nurses, derives from quantitative, retrospective studies, using data from death registers. Such research frequently focuses on individual risk factors (e.g., psychiatric illness, marital status, age, sex). To extend this viewpoint we firstly need to understand how distress, suicidality and suicide prevention in nurses is positioned and constructed in research and policy and with what political, social and personal consequences.
Study aims:
This study aims to identify and characterise existing critical policy-research gaps and current discourses, and their political, social and personal consequences, incorporating the perspectives of different stakeholders.
Methods:
A critical policy analysis and a critical literature review will precede interviews with key policy makers and employers, and focus groups and interviews with a diverse sample of nurses. Critical feminist discourse analyses will be applied to all data.
Participants:
We will be seeking to engage national and local policymakers and employers (e.g., regional chief nurses, wellbeing champions, HR); and a diverse sample of nurses.
We are particularly keen to speak to nurses from the global ethnic majority.We
We have received a favourable ethical opinion from the University of Surrey for study 1.
Take part:
Our Nurse focus groups will be held on the following dates:
Saturday 22nd November 10am - 12pm
Monday 24th November 12 - 2pm
Thursday 8th January 2026 6 - 8 pm
Saturday 10th January 2026 3 - 5pm
We will continue our focus groups and interviews until the end of January 2026 and are particularly interested in speaking to nurses from the global ethnic majority.
If you are a woman nurse and are interested in finding out more about participating, please complete our contact form.
The participant information sheets below give more information about what is involved in the study.
Progress:
Our literature and policy reviews are complete and are being prepared for publication. Look out for them on our outputs page soon.
We have completed our interviews with senior leaders in healthcare and policy.
Our Nurse focus groups will be held from October 2025 to January 2026.