Parents' perspectives on adolescent self-harm: Qualitative study

Oldershaw, Anna; Richards, Clair; Simic, Mima; Schmidt, Ulrike

doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.107.045930

Cited by 104 publications

(185 citation statements)

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“…Previous qualitative research has explored the needs, perspectives and responses of parents to their children's self-harm (Byrne, Morgan, Fitzpatrick et al, 2008., Oldershaw et al, 2008Raphael, Clarke & Kumar, 2006). These studies found that parents were deeply distressed by self-harm and that they struggled to understand and cope with it.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While self-harm in young people often ceases by late adolescence or early adulthood (Moran et al, 2012) it can be a precursor of specific mental health problems (Mars et al, 2014). It also carries a significant risk of suicide .Previous qualitative research has explored the needs, perspectives and responses of parents to their children's self-harm (Byrne, Morgan, Fitzpatrick et al, 2008., Oldershaw et al, 2008Raphael, Clarke & Kumar, 2006). These studies found that parents were deeply distressed by self-harm and that they struggled to understand and cope with it.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Many feel that they cannot make sense of, or come to terms with, their child's self-harming behaviour (Oldershaw et al, 2008). In health research 'sense-making' has become a prominent theme in studies of chronic illnesses (Pakenham, 2012), including various cancers (Dunn et al, 2006;Fife, 1994;Gray, Fitch, Phillips, Labreque & Fergus, 2000;Öhlén, Gustaffson & Friberg, 2013), diabetes (Lang, 1989), dementia (Robinson, Clare & Evans, 2005), mental illness (Cardano, 2010) and multiple sclerosis (Pakenham, 2008).…”

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Making Sense of an Unknown Terrain

et al. 2016

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Self-harm is common in young people, and can have profound effects on parents and other family members. We conducted narrative interviews with 41 parents and other family members of 38 young people, aged up to 25, who had self-harmed. Most of the participants were parents, but included one sibling and one spouse. This article reports experiences of the parent participants. A cross-case thematic analysis showed that most participants were bewildered by self-harm. The disruption to their world-view brought about by self-harm prompted many to undergo a process of 'sense-making' -by ruminative introspection, looking for information and building a new way of seeing -in order to understand and come to terms with self-harm. Most participants appeared to have been successful in making sense of self-harm, though not without considerable effort and emotional struggle. Our findings provide grounds for a deeper socio-cultural understanding of the impact of self-harm on parents.Keywords: Self-harm; adolescence; young adults; parents; families 3 Self-harm is defined as intentional self-injury or self-poisoning regardless of motive (Hawton, Saunders & O'Connor, 2012; Oldershaw, Richards, Simic & Scmidt, 2008). It is common in young people, with some studies reporting up to 38% of young adults engaging in self-harm (Andover, Primack, Gibb & Pepper, 2010). Between 10-17% of adolescents are said to selfharm (Hawton, Rodham, Evans & Weatherall, 2002;Klonsky, 2009). While some research suggests that rates of self-harm are comparable in men and women (Andover et al. 2010), international studies with large community samples show that self-harm occurs three to four times more often in female adolescents than in males (Hawton et al., 2002; Madge et al., 2008;O'Connor, Rasmussen, Miles & Hawton, 2009., Mars et al., 2014McMahon et al. 2014). While suicidal intent may or may not be involved, the most frequent motives for selfharm are intrapersonal -e.g. affect regulation, self-punishment (Klonsky, 2009) or interpersonal -e.g. appeal to others (Scoliers et al., 2009; Hjelmeland et al., 2002). Self-harm is frequently repeated (Hawton et al., 2002;Hawton, Bergen, Kapur, Cooper, Steeg et al., 2012) and often done in secret (Madge et al., 2008). While self-harm in young people often ceases by late adolescence or early adulthood (Moran et al., 2012) it can be a precursor of specific mental health problems (Mars et al., 2014). It also carries a significant risk of suicide .Previous qualitative research has explored the needs, perspectives and responses of parents to their children's self-harm (Byrne, Morgan, Fitzpatrick et al., 2008., Oldershaw et al., 2008Raphael, Clarke & Kumar, 2006). These studies found that parents were deeply distressed by self-harm and that they struggled to understand and cope with it. They often felt helpless and worried about future incidents of self-harm. Their anxieties were increased by feeling that they lacked the parenting skills to respond appropriately, in some cases, and that they did not always rece...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Making Sense of an Unknown Terrain

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“…Oldershaw et al, (2008) found that parents' viewed their child's self-harm as a 'phase' or as an indication 14 that they were conforming to a 'fashion'. In addition to this, it was also found that parents perceived their child's self-harming behaviours as their own choice.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A qualitative analysis of perceptions of self‐harm in members of the general public

Newton

Bale

2012

J of Public Mental Health

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Abstract.Purpose: Previous research into health care professionals' perceptions of self-harm has found that, although complex, in some cases, their perceptions can be somewhat negative and unsympathetic towards individuals who harm themselves. However, it is presently unclear whether these perceptions reflect more general attitudes to self-harm in broader social groups. The present study represents a preliminary investigation into perceptions of selfharm in the general public. Firstly, since there is no universal agreement on which behaviours constitute self-harm, this study aimed to investigate public perceptions of this, including whether participants identified more controversial behaviours such as eating disorders and body modification as methods of self-harm in addition to the more commonly identified behaviours such as cutting and burning. Secondly, it aimed to identify whether attitudes towards individuals who self-harm in a small sample of the general public were similar to the sometimes negative and unsympathetic perceptions of health care professionals demonstrated in some previous studies.Design/Methodology/Approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven participants, none of whom had any professional or academic experience or knowledge of self-harm, who were recruited via second acquaintances of the first author. A 2 matrix based thematic analysis method was used to analyse the data collected.Findings: The main findings of this study were that eating disorders were generally perceived as forms of self-harm while body modification was not, and that participants generally showed sympathy towards individuals who self-harm, especially when they perceived the behaviour to be associated with mental illness.Originality/Value: Although, given the small size of the sample, this should be considered a preliminary study, our findings suggest that developing a greater understanding of public perceptions of selfharm could have important implications for understanding mental health professionals' perceptions of the phenomenon. We suggest that stigma and negative perceptions of people who self-harm may not be inevitable and that further research in this area could be of value in informing public and professional education campaigns in this area.

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Recurrent self‐harm

Borschmann¹,

Moran

2014

Troublesome Disguises

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Parents' perspectives on adolescent self-harm: Qualitative study

Cited by 104 publications

References 14 publications

Making Sense of an Unknown Terrain

Making Sense of an Unknown Terrain

A qualitative analysis of perceptions of self‐harm in members of the general public

Recurrent self‐harm

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