TY - JOUR PY - 2017// TI - How people who self-harm negotiate the inpatient environment: the mental-healthcare workers perspective JO - Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing A1 - Thomas, Jay B. A1 - Haslam, Cheryl O. SP - 480 EP - 490 VL - 24 IS - 7 N2 - INTRODUCTION: Literature describes self-harm as functional and meaningful. This creates difficulties for service-users detained in an inpatient environment where self-harm is prevented.

AIM: Mental-healthcare staff were interviewed to build on existing evidence of issues with the prevention approach and explore, from a staff perspective, how self-harm prevention impacts on service-users, how they manage distress and how this impacts on staff approach to care.

METHODS: Qualitative methods were used to allow unexpected themes to arise. Ten semi-structured interviews were carried out with mental-healthcare staff and thematically analysed.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION: The findings provide new evidence on the benefits and limitations of the inpatient environment for individuals who self-harm.

FINDINGS indicate that being unable to self-harm can lead to a continuation of distress and subsequent potentially-harmful attempts to manage distress. Staff described experiencing a struggle for control in preventing self-harm, leading to increasingly harmful methods of self-harm. Alternatively some staff were able to support service-users with distress management. We discuss factors influencing which of these 'paths' service-users followed. IMPLICATIONS: Considerations for care planning including understanding self-harm, using individualised care-planning and attending to barriers are outlined with the ultimate aim of reducing distress and the impact of prevention of self-harm. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1351-0126 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12384 ID - ref1 ER -