Rankin Inlet (Oct 18/06) - A trio of researchers is conducting a study that may help ease the pain of suicide in Nunavut.

The Qaujivallianiq inuusirijauvalauqtunik (Learning from lives that have been lived) suicide follow-back study is an attempt to identify the risk and protective factors specific to Inuit of Nunavut, as well as other data to assist efforts to reduce the territory's high suicide rate.

The Government of Nunavut (GN) called upon Iqaluit's Jack Hicks to look at the efficiency and effectiveness of its suicide-prevention program after 2003 became the worst year for suicides in the territory.

A workshop was held in Iqaluit to bring people together from Nunavut, the NWT, Alaska, Nunavik and Greenland, as well as researchers from McGill University.

The idea for the Embrace Life Council was born at the meetings, as was the realization that jurisdictions know the most about who is taking their own lives.

Gathering that data and analyzing it became the starting point for developing more effective suicide-prevention programs in Nunavut.

Hicks has been joined by psychologists Rian van Bruggen and Taravat Ostovar.

"Everybody knows a story or two, but human beings tend to generalize those stories to the whole picture and that's not necessarily an accurate depiction," said Hicks.

"The follow-back study is an established method of compiling accurate information through families of the deceased and following their lives from birth to death.

"That's what we're in the process of doing now."

A coalition was formed with the researchers, GN, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., RCMP, Chief Coroner's Office and various churches.

The team also partnered with the McGill group for suicide studies led by Dr. Gustavo Turecki, and the Canadian Institute of Health Research - a medical-research body and grant agency that works at arm's length from the federal government.

When preparing to visit a community, the group reads the coroner's files to identify next of kin and get a basic sense of what happened.

An interpreter is hired and the group meets with the mayor, SAO, RCMP, and social and mental-health worker so everyone is aware of the study taking place.

From there, the process of contacting family members and getting them to agree to the study begins.

The group recently conducted its first Kivalliq interviews in Rankin Inlet.

Hicks said although the interviews are semi-structured, family members are free to go in whatever direction they want during the session.

"That approach often leads to interesting insights being provided.

"Since every case is unique, you have to be flexible enough to go wherever a person's life story takes you."

A toll-free number has been set up in case of retraumatization, but, to date, it has not been utilized. When finished, the team hopes to have completed 100 detailed files on suicide.

"We're looking at 300 interviews because we do at least two per suicide victim, normally a parent plus a wife, girlfriend or best friend -somebody who knew them in a different way, especially during the last year of their lives.

"Then, for every person who committed suicide, we try to get an attempter who survived with a birthday very close to the person who died, regardless of what their life's story is. Our main interest with those who attempted suicide is how they differ from the group who were successful in ending their lives, and what kept them going after the attempt."

The interviews will produce 300 detailed life stories to provide an accurate picture of the characteristics of people who died by suicide.

Hicks said significant issues have already surfaced during interviews.

"Many people have asked us why nobody's done this before and we don't have an answer to that.

"This is the most basic information you need before moving beyond anecdotes to actual data."

The researchers are looking at all suicides in Nunavut since Jan. 1, 2003, and hope to have the study completed by the spring of 2008.

Hicks said the more then $1 million used to finance the study did not take a penny away from services in Nunavut.

"This is a pot of medical-research money which, if not used in Nunavut, would have gone elsewhere.

"There was never a way it could be used to strengthen Nunavut's health-service delivery."