Detta examensarbete syftar till att genom kvalitativa intervjuer undersöka skolkuratorers uppfattningar om och erfarenheter av skolsocialt arbete med suicidalitet hos elever. Två frågor har ställts. Den första frågan handlar om skolkuratorers uppfattningar och erfarenheter av suicidalitet hos elever. Resultatet visar att suicidalitet uppfattas vara ovanligt förekommande bland de elever skolkuratorerna har kontakt med, trots att erfarenheter av självmordstankar, självmordsförsök och självmord finns. Stress, psykisk ohälsa och svåra livssituationer ses vara bidragande orsaker till suicidalitet hos elever. Den andra frågan handlar om hur skolkuratorer beskriver det praktiska arbetet med suicidalitet hos elever. Resultatet visar att även om det i arbetet finns möjligheter att upptäcka och arbeta med suicidala elever är dessa möjligheter begränsade. Skolkuratorerna saknar i hög utsträckning suicidpreventiva instrument för att upptäcka och arbeta med suicidalitet i skolan. Istället beskrivs relationer med elever, samt internt samarbete med andra personalgrupper i skolan, utgöra grunden för arbetet med suicidalitet.

This study aims to examine school social workers perceptions and experiences of school social work with suicidality among students. To fulfill this purpose, six qualitative interviews have been made and two questions have been asked. The first question we asked was what kind of perceptions and experiences school social workers have when it comes to suicidality among adolescents in school. The second question we asked was how school social workers describe their practical work with students who are suicidal. The result shows that even though there are experiences of students who have suicidal thoughts, students who have made suicide attempts and students who have committed suicide, suicidality among students is something that is perceived as rare among the school social workers. Stress, mental health problems and difficult life situations is seen to be contributing causes of this phenomena. The result also shows, that school social workers in some ways have the ability to discover and work with students who are suffering from suicidality. However, these possibilities are also limited. School social workers experience a lack of instruments to detect suicide and to be able to work with suicidality in school. Instead, school social workers describes relationships and collaboration with both students and with other groups of staff in school as the primary basis for their work with suicidality among students.