Sass, C, Brennan, CA orcid.org/0000-0002-5258-8497, Farley, K orcid.org/0000-0001-6993-9065 et al. (6 more authors) (2022) Valued attributes of professional support for people who repeatedly self-harm: A systematic review and meta-synthesis of first-hand accounts. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 31 (2). pp. 424-441. ISSN 1324-3780
Abstract
Therapeutic interventions are an important adjunct to self-help strategies for people who self-harm. There is little guidance for those offering therapy on the effective components of interventions for people who self-harm. This was a systematic review aiming to identify the factors that contribute to positive experiences of therapy as described by people who have reduced or stopped self-harm. The review followed PRISMA guidelines to locate and synthesize peer-reviewed qualitative studies describing experiences of therapy among people who had reduced or stopped self-harm. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were peer reviewed and conducted for at least two researchers independently. Relevant first-hand quotations were extracted from eligible studies and synthesized using a thematic analysis in collaboration with experts with personal and professional experience of self-harm. Twenty-three studies met eligibility criteria. Themes identified in the reported accounts were arranged under two meta-themes. ‘Positive aspects of seeing a professional’ identified aspects of professional care that were common to all encounters: the value of sharing, space to talk and reflect, and the boundaries inherent in contact with a professional. ‘Positive attributes of individual professionals’ depended upon individual characteristics: the ability to build reciprocal trust by being non-judgemental, showing genuine empathic concern, and being confident to talk about and respond directly to self-harm. Our review indicates that therapeutic alliance is perceived as key to effective professional help for self-harm, irrespective of underlying principles of therapy. All forms of therapy should be timely and reliable and centred around the needs of the individual and their experience of self-harm.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | psychotherapy, qualitative research, self-harm, self-injurious behaviour, systematic review, therapeutics |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Health Sciences (Leeds) > Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NIHR National Inst Health Research Not Known |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 29 Nov 2021 11:39 |
Last Modified: | 17 Mar 2023 00:50 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/inm.12969 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:180889 |