Acceptance of guidance to care at the emergency department following attempted suicide.

Acceptance of GtC is high among patients who presented at the ED after attempted suicide. The patients who were the most reluctant to accept GtC were young suicide attempters of non-Western ethnicity who were not in current care. As this study is the first to address the acceptance of GtC, we point out two lines of inquiry for further research. First, reasons to accept or decline need to be investigated further since only interventions that are accepted by patients have a chance to improve clinically relevant outcome. Second, follow-up research is warranted comparing the adherence to advised post-discharge care and attempted or completed suicide among accepters versus decliners of GtC in various ethnic and sociodemographic subgroups.