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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Adolescents and young adults form a high-risk group for non-suicidal selfinjury but these behaviours are often inadequately understood. Aims: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to explore the perceptions of student self-injury, among school and college teachers in an urban city in India.
METHODS: A 62-item measure, Teacher Awareness and Understanding about Self-injury Survey Questionnaire, was completed by 152 teachers from high school, pre-university college and undergraduate college levels, drawn from 21 private and government educational institutions. This assessed teachers' perceptions about the rates, methods, characteristics and functions of student self-injury, their self-reported knowledge and emotional reactions, and their views about appropriate help-seeking options and responses.
RESULTS: The results indicated underestimation of the rates of student self-injury by a large proportion of teachers, although a majority felt that these behaviours were on the rise. Self-injurious acts were largely viewed as warning signs of mental illness and most strongly seen as reflecting a depressive illness. There were divergent perceptions about the relationship between self-injurious behaviours and suicide. The belief in the 'attention-seeking' function of self-injurious acts was prominent, with the emotion regulation function being less frequently endorsed.
RESULTS indicated that there were some difficult emotional reactions and knowledge gaps in the understanding of student self-injury. There were significant associations between teachers' reports of knowledge about self-injurious behavior, the ease of identification of self-injury and the sense of confidence in responding to an injuring student.
CONCLUSION: The findings have implications for gatekeeper training, counselling services and referral pathways in educational institutions. © 2017, Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. All rights reserved.
Language: en |