Background: Suicide may have disruptive and/or devastating effects on family, friends, and the broader community. Of late, increased interest from suicide researchers has given rise to an upsurge in research productivity addressing suicide bereavement and postvention. At this critical juncture, the establishment of an agenda will help guide the direction of future scholarly research in this field. Aims: To conduct an exhaustive systematic mapping review and bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed suicide bereavement and postvention research published over the past 50 years. Method: A comprehensive and strategic search of electronic databases and web-based search engines for original research studies was conducted resulting in the identification of 443 articles. Results: Since 1965, the global research activities in the field of suicide bereavement and postvention is approximately 8.86 papers per year. There remains a lack of evaluation studies on the effects of interventions/programs with the majority of papers being explanatory in nature. Several areas of study within this field remain neglected. Limitations: While the search strategy was rigorous, potential limitations exist due to nonstandardized nomenclature and English language only inclusion, which inherently favors research from high-income countries. Conclusion: Suggested topics for a research agenda are proposed from the current limitations in the field.

Social workers frequently encounter those affected by suicide. However, the social work voice on suicide has been relatively absent from the literature. This scoping review aimed to map the contribution social work research has made to suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention. Two hundred and forty-one papers on suicide authored by social workers were identified. Results demonstrate that explanatory research remains the primary mode of scientific inquiry in suicide research undertaken by social workers, with fewer descriptive and control articles. There remains a dearth of social work research dedicated to suicide in indigenous populations, postvention knowledge, and suicide and stigma. Future social work research should pursue a greater contribution to the primary prevention literature by evaluating programs and interventions. Working with those who are suicidal or the bereaved by suicide is important for informing social work practice in this area.

This analysis addresses the controversial question of whether disclosure of a significant other's traumatic death cause is associated with mental health outcomes. Consistent with the limited previous research, this data, collected from 131 suicide bereaved, 10 exclusively drug death bereaved, and six other bereaved respondents, showed fewer grief difficulties and better self-rated mental health among those inclined to openly disclose a significant other's death cause, compared to those who feared incurring shame and embarrassment from doing so. Regression analyses suggested that the tendency to openly discuss the death was the single most powerful correlate to explaining variations in grief difficulties.