Parents’ Experience and Psychoeducation Needs When Supporting a Young Person Who Self-Harms

Karolina Krysinska, Sophie Curtis, Michelle Lamblin, Nina Stefanac, Kerry Gibson, Sadhbh Byrne, Pinar Thorn, Simon M. Rice, Alison McRoberts, Anne Ferrey, Yael Perry, Ashleigh Lin, Sarah Hetrick, Keith Hawton and Jo Robinson
Additional contact information
Karolina Krysinska: Orygen, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Sophie Curtis: North Western Mental Health, Parkville, VIC 3050, Australia
Michelle Lamblin: Orygen, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Nina Stefanac: Orygen, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Kerry Gibson: School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Sadhbh Byrne: Orygen, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Pinar Thorn: Orygen, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Simon M. Rice: Orygen, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Alison McRoberts: Orygen, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Anne Ferrey: Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
Yael Perry: Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia
Ashleigh Lin: Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia
Sarah Hetrick: Orygen, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Keith Hawton: Centre for Suicide Research, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK
Jo Robinson: Orygen, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: Background: Self-harm in young people can have a substantial negative impact on the well-being and functioning of parents and other carers. The “Coping with Self-Harm” booklet was originally developed in the UK as a resource for parents and carers of young people who self-harm, and an adaptation study of this resource was conducted in Australia. This paper presents qualitative analysis of interviews with parents about their experiences and psychoeducational needs when supporting a young person who engages in self harm. Methods: The qualitative study drew on semi-structured individual and group interviews with parents ( n = 19 participants) of young people who self-harm. Data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Results: The analysis identified six themes: (1) the discovery of self-harm, (2) challenges in the parent-young person relationship, (3) parents’ need to understand self-harm, (4) parents’ emotional reactions to self-harm, (5) the importance of self-care and help-seeking among parents, and (6) the need for psychoeducational resources. Conclusion: The study highlights the need for support for parents and carers of young people who engage in self-harm, including development and adaptation of resources, such as the “Coping with Self-Harm” booklet, of which an Australian version has now been developed.

Keywords: parents; carers; self-harm; young people; support; psychoeducation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/10/3662/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/10/3662/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:10:p:3662-:d:361813

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().