Citation

Hadfield J, Brown D, Pembroke L, Hayward M. Qual. Health Res. 2009; 19(6): 755-765.

Affiliation

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Wokingham, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1049732309334473

PMID

19429768

Abstract

Self-harm is a prevalent phenomenon regularly faced by doctors and nurses working in accident and emergency (A&E) departments. We argue that the treatment decisions A&E doctors make are fundamental to decreasing the high risk of suicide among this group. In this article we present a qualitative study exploring how doctors working in A&E respond to treating people who self-harm. In total, five A&E doctors were interviewed and the data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three main themes were extracted: treating the body, silencing the self, and mirroring cultural and societal responses to self-harm. Within these themes, we identified both facilitative and unhelpful aspects of the relationships between people who self-harm and A&E doctors. We consider the clinical implications of these findings within the context of A&E doctors having limited opportunities to address the relational nature of the care they offer to this group.

Language: en