Deliberate Self-harm (DSH) is a serious public health problem and is becoming more prevalent among young people in Ireland. Research tends to focus on the DSH patient. However, parental involvement is recognized as an important factor in their child's prognosis. This study aimed to describe parents' and carers' experiences of self-harm in their child in order to identify their support needs. A focus group methodology was used to generate qualitative data. Representative participants whose children had engaged in suicidal behaviour were recruited from the Paediatric Emergency, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Teams and Family Support Services. Twenty-five participants attended the focus group meeting. A transcript-based conceptual analysis was conducted to identify and explore emerging themes. Participants expressed the need for support; information about suicidal behaviour in young people; skills for parenting an adolescent; and advice on managing further incidents. Parents described significant difficulties in family communication, in parent-child relationships, and in the area of discipline following self-harm. These findings support current research that identifies the need for service development and information for parents/carers of young people who self-harm.

BackgroundDeliberate Self-Harm (DSH) is a common problem among children and adolescents in clinical and community populations, and there is a considerable amount of literature investigating factors associated with DSH risk and the effects of DSH on the child. However, there is a dearth of research examining the impact of DSH on parents, and there are few support programmes targeted at this population. This cross-sectional study examines the profile of a sample of parents of young people with DSH who participated in a support programme (Supporting Parents and Carers of young people with self-harm: the SPACE programme), with the goal of investigating pre-test parental well-being, family communication, parental satisfaction, perceived parental social support, and child strengths and difficulties.MethodsParticipants were 130 parents who attended the SPACE programme between 2009 and 2012, and who completed six questionnaires at baseline: the General Health Questionnaire-12, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Kansas Parenting Satisfaction Scale, General Functioning Scale of the McMaster Family Assessment Device, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and a demographic questionnaire.ResultsThe majority of parents met criteria for minor psychological distress (86%) and rated the quantity and severity of their children’s difficulties as being in the abnormally high range (74%) at baseline. A majority of participants (61%) rated their perceived social support as being poor. Lower parental well-being was significantly correlated with poorer family communication, poorer parenting satisfaction, and a greater number of difficulties for the child. Perceived social support was not significantly correlated with parental well-being. Parents whose children were not attending school at baseline had significantly lower well-being scores than those whose children were. Parents whose children had received a formal diagnosis of a mental health disorder also had significantly lower well-being scores than those whose children had not.ConclusionsParents of young people with DSH behaviours face considerable emotional and practical challenges; they have low levels of well-being, parenting satisfaction, social support, and experience poor family communication. Given the importance of parental support for young people with DSH behaviours, consideration should be given to the need for individual or group support for such parents.

Background:  There has been little published about the nature and frequency of suicidal phenomena in children compared to that of adolescents. Method:  Standardised information on all presentations with suicidal phenomena to the Children’s University Hospital, Dublin from 2002 to 2008 were retrospectively analysed from a centralised database. Results:  During the time period of the study, 401 young people presented for assessment, of whom 21.9% (N = 88) were under 12 years of age. Children differed from adolescents in terms of gender distribution, method of self‐harm, and risk factors present. Conclusion:  Children under 12 are capable of displaying suicidal phenomena and differ considerably to adolescents in this regard.

We examined the epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) between epidemiological year (EY) 1996/1997 and EY2015/2016. Over the 20 EYs, 3707 cases were reported with annual incidence rates per 100 000 peaking at 11.6 in EY1999/2000, decreasing significantly to 1.5 in EY2015/2016. The highest disease burden was in infants and children <5, whereas adults aged ⩾65 years experienced the highest case fatality ratio (CFR) of 15.7% but over the study period the median annual CFR remained low (4.4%). Meningococcal serogroup B (menB) dominated (78%), followed by menC (17%), menW (1%) and menY (1%). The incidence of menC IMD declined significantly in all age groups after menC vaccine introduction in 2000. MenB incidence also declined over the 20 EYs with decreasing trends in all age groups under 65, including an almost 50% decrease in infants over the final four EYs. IMD incidence in the ROI has declined, partly attributable to menC vaccination success, coupled with a spontaneous decline in menB. However, recent gradual increases in non-menB IMD and the introduction of vaccines targeting menB demand continued detailed surveillance to accurately monitor trends and to assess vaccine impact.

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