TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - Parents' perspectives on adolescent self-harm: qualitative study
JO  - British journal of psychiatry
A1  - Oldershaw, Anna
A1  - Richards, Caroline
A1  - Simic, Milan
A1  - Schmidt, U.
SP  - 140
EP  - 144
VL  - 193
IS  - 2
N2  - BACKGROUND: Parents' perspectives on self-harm are considered important, but have not been explored. AIMS: To gain perspective of parents of adolescents who self-harm on: (a) history of self-harm and health service provision; (b) their understanding and ability to make sense of self-harm behaviour; (c) emotional and personal impact; and (d) parent skills as carer and hope for the future. METHOD: Interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied to semi-structured interviews with 12 parents of adolescents receiving treatment for self-harm in community child and adolescent mental health services. RESULTS: Parents commonly suspected and spotted self-harm prior to disclosure or service contact; however, communication difficulties and underestimating significance led to delays in addressing the behaviour. Parents struggled to understand and cope with self-harm. CONCLUSIONS: Parents require advice and support from outside services to help them manage self-harming behaviour and its personal impact. This study suggests parents are early to spot signs of self-harm, indicating their key role in reaching young people in the community who remain unknown to health services.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0007-1250
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.107.045930
ID  - ref1
ER  -