Troubled minds and scarred bodies: a grounded theory study of adolescent self-harm
Adolescent self-harm is an international and national issue that is positively related to adolescent suicide. It has a major impact upon the lives of young people and their families and represents a significant drain upon the economic and clinical resources of the National Health Service. The resear...
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University of Kent
2012
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| Online Access: | http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.592673 |
| Summary: | Adolescent self-harm is an international and national issue that is positively related to adolescent suicide. It has a major impact upon the lives of young people and their families and represents a significant drain upon the economic and clinical resources of the National Health Service. The research objective of this project was to investigate what might be happening in the minds of young people who self-harm. The project was designed to capture the micro-processes of adolescent self-harm in order to identify significant constructs for the purpose of theory generation and clinical application. It is a grounded theory study of 12 adolescents aged 13-16 years old (9 females and 3 males) presenting to hospital after an episode of self-harm. A single interview was conducted after episodes of self-barm and analysed using a narrative and construct based approach. Results: The findings of the project are presented as four cardinal constructs: (1) The Upset; (2) Who Cares? -The Mother-Adolescent relationship; (3) The Telling -Self/Other Relations; (4) Equilibrium Disequilibrium. These findings form the basis for an adolescent theory of self-harm with an over-arching and chief construct of Equilibrium. Conclusion: Disturbances and discontinuities in adolescent self-other relationships are major factors in adolescent self-harm. |
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