Development and Efficacy of a Psycho-educational Empowerment Package Based on the Lived Experiences of Suicide Attempters on Suicidality and Suicidal Behavior

Articles in Press

Document Type : qualitative and quantitative studies

Authors

1 PhD in Counseling, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

2 PhD in Counseling, Professor, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

10.22098/jpc.2026.20436.1394

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and validate a psycho-educational empowerment package based on the lived experiences of suicide attempters and examine its efficacy on the Depressive Symptom Suicidality Subscale (DSI SS) and suicidal behavior (SBQ-R).

This study employed a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design consisting of qualitative and quantitative phases. During the qualitative phase, themes pertaining to the needs and experiences of individuals with a history of suicide attempts were extracted through semi structured interviews and thematic analysis. These themes informed the development of the psycho-educational empowerment package, who’s content validity was assessed and confirmed by expert panel review and content validity indices. In the quantitative phase, the efficacy of the package was assessed using a quasi experimental pretest posttest control group design with a one-month follow-up. Data were gathered using the SBQ-R (Osman et al., 2001) and the DSI SS (Metalsky & Joiner, 1997), and analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The findings revealed that the developed package had an acceptable content validity. Moreover, the intervention significantly reduced the DSI SS and SBQ-R in the experimental group relative to the control group, and these effects persisted throughout the follow up phase (p < 0.01).

The findings demonstrated that the psycho-educational empowerment package based on lived experiences, through concurrently addressing the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions, can serve as an effective intervention to reduce DSI-SS and SBQ-R scores. Incorporating the lived experiences of individuals into intervention design provides valuable potential for developing prevention programs and improving mental health services.

Keywords

Preventive Counseling

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 08 October 2026

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