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Table 1 Steps two to four by Colaizzi’s [19] seven step phenomenological qualitative approach to develop intervention foundational themes

From: Developing a post-discharge suicide prevention intervention for children and young people: a qualitative study of integrating the lived-experience of young people, their carers, and mental health clinicians

Participant

Step 2: significant statements

Step 3: formulated meanings

Step 4: themes

Clinician

(1) “It's really hard to kind of provide a generic kind of template around that, because you do it—like you've generally reviewed the notes and you're tailoring the conversation to what the assessment was, so it's hard to say, oh yes, I'd do this and then I'd do that.”

(1) Follow-up interventions need to be responsive/tailored to the individual, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach

(1) Person-focused: The intervention needs a strong person-centred focus

(2) “It's a bit kind of like, yeah, just building a banter with them and a therapeutic rapport and then albeit briefly, then being able to dive into those harder questions.”

(2) A genuine, empathic, and rapport rapport-building intervention must be prioritised over a 'tick the box' approach

(2) Phone call dynamics: Ensuring a genuine and empathic call is of primary importance

(3) “I feel it would be helpful, but there would need to be a purpose of the call, like rather than, oh how are you feeling today, yeah, still suicidal, oh that's shit. Like more of a have you called your GP like you said you would, have you followed like we tell the parents to remove access, have you done this with the parents, like more of a call to follow through and have you put into place what we discussed.”

(3) The intervention purpose must be clear and aim to meet the expectations and wants/needs of the individual

(3) Phone call purpose: The purpose of the call to each person must be clear

Young person

(1) “I think it depends on the circumstances."

(2) “The person is still human. Just because they have a mental illness doesn’t mean they're any less mentally capable than anyone else. In my experience, when I've ever talked to someone over a phone I feel like they're reading from a script and I'm talking to someone that's robotic, and I totally lose all connection. It's, like, okay, let's wrap this up, I've got things to do.”

(3) “I think psychoeducation is a big part of it. I know for my parents they didn’t really understand what I was going through. To them when I was really young it was like, this is just attention or this is just—why didn’t you talk to us about this sooner? Just not really getting it. If someone had taken the time to sit down with them and say, do you actually get how we got to this point—because they didn’t see the signs leading up to the attempt so they were just like, oh, this just happened. If someone had sat down with them and said, did you notice this, this and this? Because that was what that was, and this is what is happening with your child. They might have understood a bit better and been more caring about it.”

Parent/carer

(1) “Generally, yes, but that should be stated at—while you're in the ED. I've asked my daughters about this and they said that they would like to know in advance to have the right to say yes, they want someone or no, they don't.”

(2) “They don't want that specific have you decided to take anymore? Have you—not that they would ask that but they don't want that specific to—they feel like they're more confronted if they have to answer those questions. They just want to round it out, which my son still gets when he goes to his clinicians…”

(3) “I agree. It's terribly important to follow-up but as kids get older you really have to take in their thinking about it all. As a parent when we needed to follow-up with a youngster, like 12, that was my lifeline, having someone call me. It was very important to me.”