Introduction:
Adolescence, as a transitional period from childhood to adulthood, is marked by various crises such as identity crisis. It is considered one of the most critical stages of life, and adolescents should receive special attention from social workers in the context of suicide prevention. This study aims to explore the experiences of social workers employed in healthcare settings when dealing with adolescents who have attempted suicide.

Method:
This qualitative study was conducted using a conventional content analysis approach. Participants included 16 social workers involved with suicide-related cases and 5 adolescents or their family members, selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and analyzed accordingly. To ensure data trustworthiness, the criteria of credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability proposed by Guba and Lincoln were used.

Findings:
The findings reveal challenges and barriers faced by social workers in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities toward adolescents who have attempted suicide. Analysis of the data led to the emergence of 8 main categories and 32 subcategories. The main categories include: barriers related to the social worker, barriers related to social work education and practice, organizational (hospital) barriers, inter-organizational barriers, barriers related to medical staff, barriers related to the patient, and barriers related to the patient’s family.

Discussion:
The results of this study demonstrate that hospital-based social workers face multiple challenges in reducing the risk of suicide among adolescents, which negatively affect the quality and effectiveness of their services. These findings can help propose strategies to enhance the quality of social work interventions, including specialized training for social workers in suicide risk identification and management, and strengthening collaboration among hospitals, emergency social services, and support organizations.