Background and Purpose: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among Canadian youth aged 15-24, and most youth who die by suicide have at least one mental health concern. Canadian youth have high rates of mental health (20%) and substance use (12%) concerns, along with the highest unmet needs for mental health care. Parents of youth who die by suicide describe challenges in finding appropriate care for their youth and are often excluded from their youth’s treatment and services. In Ontario, Canada's most populous province, half of the youth who die by suicide visit an emergency department in the year before their death, with an increased risk post-discharge due in part to a lack of continuity of care and limited referrals to community mental health care. The aim of this study was to examine parents/caregivers' perspectives on the systems of care their youths engaged with prior to suicide.
Methods: Participants eligible for this study were Ontario parents/caregivers of a youth under 26 who died by suicide in the past five years. Recruitment occurred through bereavement centres, and virtual semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data analysis employed thematic analysis to identify themes and patterns across the dataset.
Results: The study included 11 mothers and 6 fathers of youth who died by suicide. Key themes included the need for amplifying youth voices, treating mental health concerns as illnesses, addressing bullying and discrimination, improving access to services, navigating the gap between hospital and community care, enhancing compassionate care, addressing systemic failures, involving parents in treatment, providing more support for parents, offering psychoeducation to parents and youth, and improving safety planning.
Discussion: Findings reveal critical gaps in the healthcare system for Ontario youth, emphasizing the importance of involving parents in their youth's care, improving access to services, enhancing the quality of care, and improving care coordination between emergency and community mental health services.