Abstract
To explore the beliefs and attitudes of emergency department staff about self-harm behaviour. Existing studies looking at views regarding self-harm rely solely on the information provided by medical and nursing staff using a questionnaire format. No studies currently consider ancillary staff members’ beliefs about self-harm, even though they also work with these patients. A thematic framework analysis of interview transcripts was carried out. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted from December 2015 to February 2016. Fifteen medical, nursing, and ancillary staff members from a large, tertiary emergency department participated. There were 5 major themes identified—causes of self-harm are multifactorial; beliefs about self-harm can change over time; emergency departments should only focus on the physical; self-harm occurs on a spectrum; and the system has failed. The results suggest participants felt ill-prepared and lacking in appropriate training to help patients that self-harm, and furthermore they have little faith in the mental health system. Staff beliefs and attitudes may change over time with exposure to patients who self-harm, possibly becoming more positive in response to a greater understanding of why the self-harm behaviour is occurring.
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Kate Koning was employed in the Emergency Department where the data collection for this study took place. The rest of the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Koning, K.L., McNaught, A. & Tuffin, K. Emergency Department Staff Beliefs About Self-Harm: A Thematic Framework Analysis. Community Ment Health J 54, 814–822 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-017-0178-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-017-0178-8