A Critical Review of the Study Method of Psychological Autopsy in South Korea

Abstract

Social interest in ‘psychological autopsy’ has been increasing due to the high suicide rate in Korea. The purpose of this study was to check up the characteristics and limitations of Korea psychological autopsy study method conducted so far. To achieve the aim of this study, total 15 articles about ‘psychological autopsy’ were analyzed according to the general review method of literature. The author classified the articles according to commonalities and differences. Also, the researcher checked fundamental purpose and the original research method of psychological autopsy to compare studies mutually. Based on the results, a research framework was constructed. The analytical framework of the study was comprised of ‘the type of research’, ‘efforts to enhance reliability,’ and ‘the role of the researchers.’ As a result, this study pointed out that the limitations of previous studies was lack of real application about psychological autopsy studies, lack of efforts to ensure the reliability of research and lack of the researcher’s role. Based on the results of this research, researcher suggested that a practical study and a depth interview study should be spread, new strategies to secure for rigor of research that is suitable for the psychological autopsy be established and it should be needed for researcher to conduct a direct interview to overcome the limitations of psychological autopsy studies.