Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41809422›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in sociology2026

The positioning of women nurses as 'risky' in United Kingdom suicide prevention policy documents: a critical policy analysis.

Hilary Causer, Anna Conolly, Barbara Howard-Hunt, Chinenye Anetekhai, Carrie-Ann Black, Elaine Scott, Ruth Riley

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in sociology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Suicidality in women nurses: A critical interpretive synthesis.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Hilary CauserSchool of Health Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Anna ConollySchool of Health Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Barbara Howard-HuntSchool of Health Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Chinenye AnetekhaiSchool of Nursing and Midwifery, Birmingham City University, City South Campus, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Carrie-Ann BlackSouth London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Maudsley Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
Elaine ScottNottingham Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Ruth RileySchool of Health Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Women nurses in the global north more likely to die by suicide than women in other occupations. Current suicide research is largely quantitative and individualises and pathologises nurses. Suicide prevention policy echoes this approach, focusing on individualised risk factors, thereby missing the opportunity to explore contextual, systemic and workplace factors that may contribute to suicide in women nurses. This critical policy analysis explores how distress, suicidality and suicide prevention in women nurses is positioned and constructed in policy and with what political, social and personal consequences. Methods: A critical intersectional feminist design was adopted to interrogate the data and draw out issues pertinent to women nurses. This work was co-produced with women nurses. Bacchi's 'What's the problem represented to be?' method of critical policy analysis to inform the data extraction and analysis. We employed a feminist perspective and adapted Lazar's five principles of feminist discourse praxis. Documents were sourced from governmental and organisational websites and via search engines and were screened against our inclusion criteria. Data was extracted to inform an overview of included documents and for the critical analysis. Results: Nine documents met our inclusion criteria. We found some stark silences in the included documents regarding suicide in women nurses, and in the health services. Suicide is positioned as a problem of risky people, and as a workforce, rather than a workplace issue. Three narratives were developed to convey the core findings of the analysis: Invisible nurses and silenced suicide; People as risky; Responsibilising the workforce. Four themes sit within 'Responsibilising the workforce': Nurses as risky; Knowledge and means; Workforce problems; Workforce solutions. Conclusion: Current policy documents engage a language of risk which pathologises and responsibilises individuals and minoritised groups as causing high rates of suicide within communities and health workplaces. The impact of socio-economic, political and systemic contexts is overlooked as shaping the lives of suicidal people.

Indexed as

discriminationfeminist methodsnurse suicidepolicypolicy analysissuicidewomen nurses

Identifiers

PMID41809422
PMCPMC12967938

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.