The purpose of this study is to understand the subjective experience of survived elderly persons who attempted suicide in the rural community. To this end, I studied suicidal attempt experience considering spacial and eco-systematic factors' contexts ... The purpose of this study is to understand the subjective experience of survived elderly persons who attempted suicide in the rural community. To this end, I studied suicidal attempt experience considering spacial and eco-systematic factors' contexts of an individual, family and rural community from the rural elderly perspective. Based on this study, I wanted to provide basic data requiring to seek out effective prevention and intervention strategies and policies for the rural elderly to prevent suicide considering the reality in the rural community. This study has tried to find out current situation in focusing the nature of suicidal attempt experience of the rural elderly through the Giorgi's phenomenological research methodology. Five elderly persons aged 75 to 82 living in the rural community in Gangwon-do, Korea were participated in the study. The data for this study was collected by in-depth interview from April 26 to July 5, 2016. Each interview took about 90 to 120 minutes, and minimum 3 to maximum 5 times interviews were conducted for each participant. All interviews were recorded whatever a participant said and analyzed later. Based on the interview, 6 themes, 19 sub-themes and 58 meaningful units regarding suicidal attempt experiences of the rural elderly were emerged. The main themes about suicidal attempt experience of the rural elderly are as follows; <Buried in the bridle of ordeal>, <Frustration of life and reaching the limitation of life>, <Preparing death to free from hard reality>, <Attempted to complete death but survive between life and death>, <Accepting inevitable destiny and get back to the life> and <Living in the critical condition with heavy yoke and little hope in their life>. Substantive themes in the six themes about suicidal attempt experience of rural elderly people are not independently separated, but connected in dynamic and bilateral ways. From the study to understand the fundamental reason why the rural elderly attempt suicide, the study found that the will of life and death didn't come from individual problem, rather the rural elderly had attempted suicide to avoid sufferings caused by conflicts between life and death of external pressure from family and people around them. After failing suicide, the elderly has tried to live once again by overcoming sufferings, but there was no option for them to live in critical and tough conditions in the process of unstable recovery with slightest will of life and remaining will of death. Based on the findings of the study, I discussed some issues regarding suicidal attempt experience of the rural elderly. In the first theme of <Buried in the bridle of ordeal>, I understood suppressed patriarchal background which makes the rural elderly to attempt suicide and inherent factors of suicide risk. In this theme, I found complex and eco-systematic factors accumulated during their life time expressing as various experiences such as sufferings in the life from family and people around them, economic difficulties from lower farming income, trauma of family loss, issues of alcohol problem and domestic violence, closed minded and breakdown of community relations caused by isolation and alienation from relatives and neighbors, endless burden to support family, anger over betrayal and emotional wound and experience of heart-breaking. The second theme of <Frustration of life and reaching the limitation of life> shows various suicidal factors of the rural elderly from thought, plan and preparation of to committing suicide. In this theme, I found some reasons of suicide such as helplessness, hopelessness and frustration of life caused by insufficient medical cost from weak health condition, economic burden from the lack of preparation for the old, acceptance of negative image of the old, fear of death and double torture of life living in poor rural community condition. The third theme of <Preparing death to free from hard reality> is the experience of the process of thinking and preparing suicide. The process of thought and preparation about suicide among the rural elderly in this theme shows that rural elderly people have looked for and prepared detailed way of suicide through the long determined preparation. Also from this, the study found very peculiar trend that the elderly experienced death and funeral culture of people around them could think about suicide as well as commit specific copycat suicide. And deeply rooted alcohol problem in the rural area has been considered as the high risk factor of suicide. The fourth theme of <Attempted to complete death but survive between life and death> is the experience of suicidal attempt of the rural elderly. Suicidal attempt of rural elderly people in this theme was committed secretly before family and neighbor knowing. After suicidal attempt, rural elderly people have suffered from severe guilty and fear of death surrounded by closed Confucian culture stressing filial piety and reputation. And it was found that the rural elderly selected more lethal methods of suicide such as taking sleeping pills or agricultural pesticide and hanging themselves. The fifth and sixth themes of <Accepting inevitable destiny and get back to the life> and <Living in critical condition with heavy yoke and little hope in their life> are the experience after suicidal attempt. In these themes, the rural elderly worship strong shamanism accepting their life after surviving from the death as the sin of their ancestors and as karma that they must take by themselves. Also rural elderly people experience unstable recovery process with feeling of death and responsibility to support family in the condition that they still have the will of death. With hoping their well dying and their children's well-being and prosperity, the rural elderly have tired to reconstruct their life in dependence on the honesty and comfort what land and nature offered respectively. Implications of this study are as follows; First, the study would contribute to introduce the difference of and multinational theoretical discussion about suicidal issue of the rural elderly. To this end, the study tried to understand suicidal attempt experience of the rural elderly from the social and cultural eco-systematic contexts in the environment of an individual, family and rural community. Second, to tackle the suicide issue in the rural area, the study highlights the importance of intervention to strengthen capability in the rural community so as to improve healthy mutual-support system by recovering informal relationship and personal connection among local people which are strengths of the rural community. Third, the study offers the necessities of policy design and support method focusing on prevention, risk response and post-intervention based on the understanding of situation and space of the rural community to develop more feasible suicidal prevention policy considering severe suicidal problem of the older rural elderly. Fourth, the study highlights the importance of working out strict control and management plans at the policy level to fight sleeping pills and agricultural pesticide abuse and misuse which are the main ways of suicidal attempt of the rural elderly. Lastly, the study shows sensitive part of suicidal prevention from the perspective that in the rural community, suicidal death of family member and neighbor can make a bereaved family and even other neighbors as secondary victims.
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