Struggling for hopefulness: a qualitative study of Swedish women who self-harm
- 1 June 2004
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
- Vol. 11 (3), 284-291
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2004.00712.x
Abstract
There has been an increase in the number of Swedish psychiatric patients who self-harm, yet self-harm is seldom described in published research. The aim of this study was to describe how people who self-harm experience received care and their desired care. Nine participants, all Swedish women who had been treated for inpatient or outpatient psychiatric care, narrated their experiences of care for self-harm. Using qualitative content analysis, two themes were formulated: 'Expecting to be confirmed while being confirmed fosters hopefulness'; and, 'Expecting to be confirmed while not being confirmed stifles hopefulness'. Each of these themes emerged from five subthemes that clustered around positive and negative aspects of being seen-not being seen, being valued-being stigmatized, being connected-disconnected, being believed-doubted, and being understood-not being understood. Of significance is for nurses to view persons who self-harm as human beings and to grasp the importance of being confirmed by staff that can foster hopefulness in persons who self-harm, yet realize the possibility of the paradoxical nature of hopefulness and being confirmed.Keywords
This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit:
- Nurses' attitudes towards clients who self‐harmJournal of Advanced Nursing, 2002
- Principles and strategies for teaching therapeutic responses to self‐harmJournal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 2002
- Self-harm behavior and no-suicide contracting in psychiatric inpatient settingsArchives of Psychiatric Nursing, 2001
- The meaning of suicidal psychiatric in‐patients' experiences of being cared for by mental health nursesJournal of Advanced Nursing, 1999
- Deliberate self-harm: developing clinical guidelinesNursing Standard, 1997
- “Why don't you do it properly?” Young women who self-injureJournal of Adolescence, 1996
- Childhood origins of self-destructive behaviorAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1991
- A comparative investigation of health workers' attitudes towards parasuicideSocial psychiatry. Sozialpsychiatrie. Psychiatrie sociale, 1987
- The attitudes of psychiatrists to deliberate self‐poisoning: Comparison with physicians and nursesPsychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 1981
- Attitudes towards Self-Poisoning among Physicians and Nurses in a General HospitalThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1975