Suicide and attempted suicide are a major public health issue throughout the world, one particularly affecting youth. Its prevalence rates over the past decade have varied from remarkably stable to rising. To understand this phenomenon, researchers turned toward qualitative research, which is more suitable to elicit what links participants' attitudes toward health, individual characteristics and their environment, and what are the facilitators and barriers in the care. The present work is a qualitative metasynthesis of qualitative studies on youth suicide.

A systematic review of 5 web databases (Medline, PsycInfo, Embase, CINAHL, and Social Science Citation Index) retrieve 44 studies from 16 different countries. Thematic synthesis was used to develop categories inductively from the themes identified in the studies.

Three themes organised the results: individual experience, describe the individual burden and suffering related to suicide; relational experience relates the importance of relationships with others; and social and cultural experience, which describes acceptation and rejection from the group.

The violence of the suicidal act and of its message and the fears associated with the representation of death and with the fascination that it might present prevent communication around the suicidal act between the youth, their families, and their healthcare providers, and lead to incomprehension. The physician must play a role as a mediator between young suicide attempters and their families and enable the circulation of representations.