SYSTEMATIC REVIEW PROTOCOL

Systematic Review Protocol

Systematic Review Protocol

Review Title

What are the current attitudes in knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of health and Social care professionals towards people who self-harm?

Key Concepts

A Healthcare and Social care professional is a person who exercises skill or judgement relating to any of the following health and social care activities

The preservation of health wellbeing of others

The diagnosis, treatment or care of those injured, sick, disabled or infirm.

The resolution, through guidance counselling or otherwise of personal social or psychological problems.

The care of those in need of protection guidance and support

Health and Social care Professionals (2005) number 27 0f (2005). Health and Social care professionals include Doctors, Nurses, Social workers, Dieticians, Occupational therapists e.t.c

Background

Self-harm is defined as deliberate self-inflicted physical harm that is severe enough to cause tissue damage, or marks that last for several hours without suicidal intent or intent to attain sexual pleasure (Martinson, 2000: p. 22). Martinson (2000) did not include practices such as body art that involves body piercing and/or tattoos as self-injurious behaviour or self-mutilation. Furthermore, rituals done in some cultures for the purpose of healing, expression of spirituality, or spiritual enlightenment are not form of self-harm because they generally express a community's traditions that have deep symbolic meaning, (Czamospys, 2002: p. 94).

Self-harm has emerged as a major public health issue, affecting at least 1 in 15 young people in the United Kingdom Mental Health Foundation & Camelot Foundation (2006). In (2007/08) the NSPCC's child line counselled 2,210 children and young adults and young people directly about self-harm and another 3883 mentioned it in the course of discussing other problems. This was however a small proportion of the 175 000 young people who were counselled by child line that year. Prevalence figures are bound to understate the true extent of self-harming, because it is often kept secret, as young people are reluctant to admit it NSPCC (2007/08)

Given the limited understanding of self-harm behaviour, those practicing this coping strategy are labelled attention seeking Jeffery & Warm (2002), Warm et al (2003). Therefore due to these inaccurate understandings, health professionals, family, friends may not provide the support that self-harmers require.

Types of Self Harming

Deliberate self-harm involves intentional self-poisoning or self-injury, irrespective of the apparent purpose of the act Hawton and Catalan (2007). Studies highlight that self-poisoning is the most common form of DSH, followed by cutting House et al (2008). Of known risk factors for completed suicide, DSH has the strongest correlation, with the suicide rate being a hundred times greater in the self-harmer than that of the general population in the year following a non-fatal act of DSH House et al (2008).

Other forms of self-harm include scratching, biting, scrapping and inserting sharp objects under the skin or into the body and swallowing sharp objects or harmful substances. Other common forms of self-harm are cutting the arms, hands, legs and less commonly the face, abdomen, breasts and even the genitals. Some burn or sculpt themselves, others inflict blows on their bodies or bang themselves against ...