Parents' perspectives on adolescent self-harm: Qualitative study (original) (raw)

BackgroundParents' perspectives on self-harm are considered important, but have not been explored.AimsTo 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.MethodInterpretative 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.ResultsParents 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.ConclusionsParents require advice and support from outside services to help them manage self-harming behaviour and its personal impac...