Engaging with whānau to improve coronial investigations into rangatahi suicide

This article reports the findings of two studies of the Aotearoa coronial service that sought to understand how coronial processes engage with whānau who have lost a rangatahi to suicide. The aim of the combined study was to understand the extent to which coronial investigations met the needs of Māori bereaved by suicide. We conducted interviews with coroners to understand how they investigate suicide (Study One) and examined coronial files of rangatahi who had died by suicide, including communications between the coroner’s office and the bereaved whānau (Study Two). We found that coroners relied heavily on documentation and only rarely engaged with whānau to gather evidence from those who knew the person who died by suspected suicide. Moreover, forms of communication between the coronial service and whānau were couched in legalese and did not engage with whānau in ways that would add value to the coronial investigation and lead to closure for bereaved whānau. Current efforts to embed Te Tiriti o Waitangi in government policy provide an ideal opportunity to adopt a Tiriti-based approach to coronial investigations so that they align with the needs of whānau in ways that contribute to culturally appropriate suicide investigation, suicide prevention and postvention initiatives.