Parents' perspectives on adolescent self-harm: qualitative study

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.