A descriptive analysis of self-injury in community settings: exploring behaviour-behaviour contingencies

This paper provides a response to Hanna Pickard and Stephen Pearce’s paper ‘Balancing costs and benefits: a clinical perspective does not support a harm minimisation approach for self-injury outside of community settings.’ This paper responded to my article ‘Should healthcare professionals sometimes allow harm? The case of self-injury.’ There is much in the paper that I would agree with, but I feel it is important to respond to a number of the criticisms of my paper in order to clarify my position and to facilitate ongoing debate in relation to this important issue.

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Clinical characteristics and functions of non-suicide self-injury in youth

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2014.02.008 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 29 (8) ◽

pp. 503-508 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

O. Rodav ◽

S. Levy ◽

S. Hamdan

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Emotion Regulation ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Clinical Characteristics ◽

Social Influences ◽

Self Report ◽

Community Settings ◽

The Past ◽

Self Injury

AbstractPurposeLittle is known about the clinical characteristics and motivations for engaging in non-suicide self-injury (NSSI) behaviors in adolescence. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence, characteristics and functions of NSSI among adolescents in community settings, and to explore risk factors related to this behavior.Subjects and methodsTwo hundred and seventy-five adolescents aged 12 to 17 were recruited randomly from different High Schools in Israel. They completed self-report questionnaires assessing NSSI (Ottawa Self-Injury Inventory), depression (Children's Depression Inventory – CDI) and impulsivity (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale – BIS-II).ResultsIn the past year, 20.7% of the participants reported engaging NSSI at least once. Among them, 42.1% declared they are still engaging in NSSI at the present. Motives for NSSI were internal emotion regulation reasons, external emotion regulation reasons for social influences. In addition, the NSSI group reported significantly higher levels of depressive, impulsivity and suicidal ideations. Depressive symptoms were found as significant predictors of NSSI in the future.Discussion and conclusionsHigh rates of NSSI among community adolescents were found. Depression, impulsivity and suicidal ideation were found significantly related to NSSI. Mental health professionals in schools and in primary care should routinely assess NSSI among adolescents.

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A qualitative study of motivations for non-suicidal self-injury in a sample of psychiatric outpatients in Singapore

Singapore Medical Journal ◽

10.11622/smedj.2021161 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

S Shahwan ◽

YJ Zhang ◽

R Sambasivam ◽

SH Ong ◽

SA Chong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Warning Signs ◽

Warning Sign ◽

Small Subset ◽

Sense Of Control ◽

Community Settings ◽

Psychological Care ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Self Injury ◽

Appropriate Treatment

Introduction: The popular notion that the need for attention drives non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) serves to stigmatise rather than understand this warning sign of underlying psychological/psychiatric disorder. Despite the pervasiveness of NSSI in clinical and community settings, effective treatments for this behaviour are lacking. This qualitative research aims to understand the motivations of NSSI in adolescent/young adults in a mental health facility in Singapore. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 outpatients (6 males, 14 females) of Institute of Mental Health aged 16–29 years who had reported NSSI as part of an earlier survey. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The main themes and sub-themes were identified and described. Results: A preponderance of motivations served intrapersonal emotion-regulating purposes, which were categorised as to: (a) release bottled-up feelings; (b) self-punish; (c) turn aggression inwards; (d) sensitise oneself; and (e) attain a sense of control and mastery. By contrast, a small subset of motivations served the interpersonal motivation of signaling one’s distress, especially when the capacity for verbal expression was limited or attempts to verbalise distress were futile. Conclusion: Committing NSSI solely for attention-seeking is a myth that perpetuates the stigma and hinders those in need of psychological care from seeking appropriate treatment. NSSIs may be warning signs that indicate not only intrapersonal conflicts but external environments that are perceived unsafe to deal with these intrapersonal conflicts. An understanding of the underlying motives will facilitate better treatment of individuals presenting with NSSI.

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An unconventional path to greater social-communication skills and independence for an adolescent on the autism spectrum

Autism & Developmental Language Impairments ◽

10.1177/2396941518809611 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 239694151880961

Author(s):

David Trembath ◽

Rachel J Bala ◽

Joanne Tamblyn ◽

Marleen F Westerveld

Keyword(s):

Social Communication ◽

Independent Living ◽

Body Position ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Home School ◽

Community Settings ◽

Independent Living Skills ◽

Case Study Methodology ◽

Living Skills

Background In 2015, a father took his 14-year-old son who is on the autism spectrum on a six-month journey aimed to develop his son’s social-communication and independent living skills. The duo travelled across 10 countries, meeting people and practising these skills. This study examined their goals, motivations for, and outcomes of the journey. Method We used intrinsic case study methodology with mixed methods, including interviews with parents and professionals; analyses of filmed interactions between the son, his father and strangers during the journey; and descriptive analysis of parent-reported changes in their son’s participation at home, school and in the community using the Participation and Environment Measure – Children and Youth. Results Qualitative analysis of the interviews with parents and professionals revealed a set of insightful goals and motivations, focusing on creating an optimal environment for the son’s development. Parents reported increases in their son’s social-communication and independent living skills, but also unexpected changes in his perspective and self-belief. The former findings were consistent with those arising from video analysis, whereby social-pragmatic skills critical to good conversations (staying on topic, body position, eye contact) all increased over the course of the journey, while abrupt topic changes and conversational prompts reduced. Participation and inclusion across home, school and community settings all increased over the same period. Conclusion While this study makes no claims regarding causation, the findings indicate that the journey was associated with positive changes for the son and his parents, leading to greater expectations for, and progress towards, independence following the journey. Implications of the findings for supporting young people on the autism spectrum in regular community settings are discussed.

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PENGARUH HARGA DIRI TERHADAP KECENDERUNGAN PERILAKU SELF INJURY PADA SISWA SMP NEGERI DI KECAMATAN TEMBALANG TAHUN PELAJARAN 2019/2020

JURNAL EDUKASI Jurnal Bimbingan Konseling ◽

10.22373/je.v6i2.6324 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 139

Author(s):

Nadia Rachma Putri ◽

Eko Nusantoro

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

High School Students ◽

Junior High School ◽

Junior High ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Total Sample ◽

Self Esteem ◽

School Students ◽

Quantitative Descriptive Analysis ◽

Self Injury

This study aims (1) to know the level of self-esteem, (2) to know the tendency of self-injury behavior, and (3) to find out the effect of self-esteem on the tendency of self-injury behavior in state junior high school students in Tembalang District. The approach used in this study is a quantitative approach to the type of correlational research. Data collection techniques used were psychology scale with 24 items self-esteem scale instrument and 34 items self-injury behavior tendency scale. The population in this study were students of class VIII and XI state junior high school in Tembalang District with a total sample of 187 students who were determined purposively. Data analysis techniques used (1) quantitative descriptive analysis to describe the level of self-esteem and the tendency of self-injury behavior in students, (2) hypothesis testing with product moment analysis to determine the effect of self-esteem on the tendency of self-injury behavior. The results showed that self-esteem influences the tendency of self-injury behavior.

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The Elicited Language Analysis Procedure

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.1301.37 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 37-41

Author(s):

Larry J. Mattes

Keyword(s):

Diagnostic Tool ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Quality Measures ◽

Analysis Procedure ◽

Elicited Imitation ◽

Response Quality ◽

Semantic Relationships ◽

Language Analysis

Elicited imitation tasks are frequently used as a diagnostic tool in evaluating children with communication handicaps. This article presents a scoring procedure that can be used to obtain an in-depth descriptive analysis of responses produced on elicited imitation tasks. The Elicited Language Analysis Procedure makes it possible to systematically evaluate responses in terms of both their syntactic and semantic relationships to the stimulus sentences presented by the examiner. Response quality measures are also included in the analysis procedure.

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