This study was performed to identify the meaning of life experience following suicide attempt among middle-aged men.

A qualitative research design was adopted using van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The participants were six middle-aged men who had attempted suicide at least one time. Data were collected in 2013 through in-depth interviews. Individual interviews were recorded; and literary, art works and phenomenological literature were searched to identify the meaning of the experience.

The five essential themes of the life experience of middle-aged men who attempted suicide were 'Bitter reality confronted again', 'Anger buried deep inside', 'Broken family, inescapable fetters', 'Blocked relationships, closed world' and 'A step towards a new life'.

The meaning of lived experience found in this study provides deep insight into the experience following suicide attempt in middle-aged men and crucial information to give directions to appropriate support and nursing interventions.

The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the experience of Korean college students on suicide attempts.

Eight students participated and data were collected through in-depth individual interviews between September, 2011 and April, 2012. Data were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory method.

Analysis showed that the central phenomenon of suicide attempt experience of college students was 'inextricable despair'. Causal conditions were 'sense of shame by failure to achieve perfect independence' and 'a big gap between reality and ideals'. Contextual conditions were 'extreme situation of being cornered' and 'excessive changes in emotions'. Intervening conditions were 'important others' and 'perspectives on the world'. Action/interaction strategies were 'temporary efforts' and 'gathering up one's mind'. Consequences were 'trauma as one's own hurt', 'conflict between life and death' and 'becoming mature'.

The results of this study provide an in-depth understanding of the experience of college students with attempted suicide. It is necessary to develop programs to prevent suicide attempts by college students and these results can be used as a basis for program development.

The suicide rate of adolescents in Korea is increasing annually. Therefore, this research was done to identify the suicide attempt rate of middle and high school students and to identify factors that influence suicidal attempts.

The Korea Youth Health Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2007) was used as data. Discriminant analysis and logistic regression were performed to analyze the data depending on gender to consider the gender difference in assessing the influence of each independent variable on suicidal attempts.

Discriminant analysis according on gender showed that 13 factors correlated with suicidal attempts for boys, and 20 factors for girls. The most highly correlated factors were smoking, depression and inhalation experience. For inhalation experience, boys had 2.7 times higher possibility of suicide attempts (95% CI 1.8-3.0) and girls, a 2.4 times higher possibility (95% CI 1.7-3.5).

The results of the study indicate a need to classify adolescents for expectation of suicide risk and high danger for suicidal attempts through, and introduce suicide prevention programs for these adolescents. In particular, it is necessary to start intervention with students who smoke, have sexual and inhalation experiences and high levels of depression.

Suicide has been considered a large public health concern in recent years because suicide mortality has been increasing rapidly. This study was done to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of a suicide attempt among adolescents in South Korea.

The data of the 2006 Youth Health Risk Behavior web-based Survey collected by the Korean Center for Disease Control was analyzed using logistic regression for this study.

The prevalence of a suicide attempt was 5.2% in South Korea. The risk factors of a suicide attempt were suicidal ideation (odds 31.83), depression (odds 7.98), drug use (odds 4.67), currently smoking (odds 3.19), feeling unhappiness (odds 2.77), stress (odds 2.60), currently drinking alcohol (odds 2.39), sexual activity (odds 2.33), living with neither parent (odds 2.24), initial alcohol drinking by age 9 (odds 1.80), health status (odds 2.15), skipped breakfast (odds 1.75), disease (odds 1.65), and school records (odds 1.22).

Suicide screening and prevention programs should be developed, considering these risk factors. Suicide prevention programs should be applied to the at risk population prior to a suicide attempt.