Transformative mixed methods evaluation of a recovery-based intervention for adult suicide reattempters in Chile: study protocol

Suicide is a serious social and public health problem worldwide. Chile has experienced a dangerously high suicide rate for some time and, despite intervention efforts, there is a gap, especially in cases of recidivism. Nationally, interventions are individual, clinical and risk-based, but their impact is unproven. We need to broaden our focus and focus on recovery from suicide attempts. This article describes the proposed methodological protocol to evaluate the impact of a brief clinical group intervention based on the Person-Centered Recovery Model, aimed at adults who have repeatedly attempted suicide and who attend an outpatient unit belonging to a public hospital in the Maule region of Chile. Based on a transformative paradigm, a philosophical framework that positions researchers as agents of change, promoters of social justice and human rights, the proposed design corresponds to a mixed concurrent “QUANT + QUAL” research, which integrates two lines of data collection. A quantitative strand consists of a single-blind randomized clinical trial with two parallel branches and a qualitative strand with a descriptive phenomenological design. The proposed impact evaluation focuses on recovery and the socio-structural context and addresses the complexity and procedural nature of recovery for people with a history of suicide attempts.