By Sarah Davis Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is prevalent health problem that has a big impact on many people’s lives, and it needs to be better understood in to improve prevention and intervention. NSSI is defined as the deliberate and direct self-inflicted damage to the surface of the body, without suicidal intent and for purposes not… Continue reading “Can self-injury be addictive? Exploring the potentially addictive characteristics of non-suicidal self-injury”
As we head towards the end of 2021, we have taken some time, as an editorial team, to reflect on the past 12 months. With another year of journal club and WSPD blogs under our belt, as well as a successful second e-conference and the introduction of netECR Collective Care, we are extremely grateful for the support of our ever-growing netECR community and the contributions that our members make to the network and to the field of suicide and self-harm research as a whole. As a community we now stand at 104 members strong, from 15 countries across the world.
By A. Jess Williams. So, you’re doing a systematic review? Dear God. Panic stations. At some point, either you or your PI will say “hey, how about we start this off with a systematic review?” Sounds good right? Yep, very logically. But then you feel overwhelmed; how did you get to this point?! Fear not.… Continue reading Help! I’m doing a systematic review!
By Kai Lim The arrival of the genomics revolution is changing many aspects of the world, including the study of psychiatry and mental health [1]. As the cost of genotyping declines over time, more people can be recruited in genomics studies, and we will be able to understand more about the genetic risks for different… Continue reading How can genetics help us understand self-harm?
By Jessica Leather Data collection through web-based organisations has become increasingly common in academic research, due to the promise of large sample sizes and lightning-fast data delivery. Companies such as Qualtrics, Amazon Mechanical Turk and YouGov provide researchers with the opportunity to purchase or ‘crowdsource’ participants for online surveys and cognitive tasks. Some offer in-depth… Continue reading Tips for collecting data through an external organisation
By Elystan Roberts Everyone who has ridden the rollercoaster of pubertal development knows just how difficult it can be. Between the ages of 10 and 20, our bodies and brains undergo some of the most substantial changes of our lives. Alongside managing huge fluctuations in circulating sex hormones and fundamental neurocognitive change, we face new… Continue reading Is there an association between pubertal timing and self-harm?
On Wednesday, 28th August 2019 we had our monthly online journal club session and we discussed the paper “These Things Don’t Work.” Young People’s Views on Harm Minimization Strategies as a Proxy for Self-Harm: A Mixed Methods Approachethics” by Ruth Wadman, Emma Nielsen, Linda O’Raw, Katherine Brown, A. Jess Williams, Kapil Sayal & Ellen Townsend.… Continue reading “These Things Don’t Work.” Young People’s Views on Harm Minimization Strategies as a Proxy for Self Harm
By Katherine Brown Harm minimisation and self-harm ‘Harm minimisation’ approaches aim to reduce the damage that happens when someone engages in behaviour that could negatively affect their health [1]. Although the approach has its origins in the field of substance misuse [2], it has since been used in other areas - including the treatment of… Continue reading Do Harm Minimisation Techniques Really Help Young People Who Self-harm?
By James Jopling, Executive Director for Samaritans Scotland. I must admit, I arrived at the 4th Suicide and Self-Harm Early and Mid-Career Researchers Forum in Glasgow with some trepidation. Although I have worked for Samaritans for nearly four years, this was my first meaningful foray into the world of suicide and self-harm research. Many of… Continue reading Conference Review: 4th Suicide and Self-harm Early and Mid-Career Researchers’ Forum
By Donna Littlewood Today I am giving a talk on Patient and Public involvement at the Suicide and Self-Harm Early and Mid-Career Researchers’ Forum (#EMCRF19) in Glasgow. This blog is the virtual version of that talk - but with links to relevant resources and a few added extras that I could not include in the… Continue reading Lessons learnt in the quest for meaningful and effective patient and public involvement
By Donna Littlewood on behalf of members from the PPI group - Mutual Support for Mental Health The following responses were provided by members of ‘Mutual Support for Mental Health’ the lived experience advisory panel for the Centre for Mental Health and Safety at the University of Manchester. What are the key things you would… Continue reading Advice on involving people with experiential knowledge in suicide and self-harm research.
On Wednesday 27th March at 12pm (GMT) we held our monthly online journal club session to discuss a recent systematic review, which focused on “Self-harm in older adults: systematic review” led by our netECR member, M. Isabela Troya and colleagues . Here are some notes from thoughts shared in our discussion, kindly summarised by Donna… Continue reading Self-harm in older adults: systematic review
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Big data and suicide and self-harm prevention Professor Ann John, Swansea University. Prof John talked about the potential and challenges of using big data and routine records in suicide and self-harm research. In particular she highlighted the SAIL databank which provides data linkage to a number of datasets across… Continue reading Session 6: Data Hubs and Platforms
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Financial difficulty and suicide: data from frontline staff in commercial debt collection firms Dr Chris Fitch & Jamie Evans, Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol. Dr Fitch’s ‘non-health’ angle focused on the presentation of suicidality to the frontline staff of commercial debt collection firms. They found that a… Continue reading Session 5: High Risk Groups
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Hospital and community presentations for self-harm: linking across datasets Prof Nav Kapur, University of Manchester. Prof Kapur focused on the importance of data linkage between primary and secondary datasets and mortality records. This presentation related to those who were hospitalised due to the self-harm, identified as an important group… Continue reading Session 4: Healthcare Context
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Suicide Registrations Data Dr Ben Windsor-Shellard, Office for National Statistics (ONS). Dr Windsor-Shellard pointed out that possible inconsistency in the ONS data can stem from the registration delay between date of death and date of registration of death (i.e. 152 days on average in England) and recent changes in… Continue reading Session 3: Registered Suicides
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Self-harm trends and risk factors using adult general population surveys (AMPS) Sally McManus, National Centre for Social Research. Sally McManus discussed the new NatCen report – “Suicide and Self-Harm in Britain – researching risk and resilience” which uses a range of cross-sectional data sources gathered from 1993 onwards. Sally’s… Continue reading Session 2: General Population and Cohort Surveys
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Suicide Prevention Strategies: Data Needs and Data Gaps Prof Louis Appleby, University of Manchester. Prof Appleby summarised the key aims of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, in particular looking at “high risk” groups as well as other specific groups within the general population that may need targeted intervention. He… Continue reading Session 1: Context and Aims
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. A number of netECR members attended the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and NIHR sponsored “Using data to inform suicide and self-harm prevention” at the Royal Statistical Society in London on Monday 25th February 2019. This was the first in a series of events to celebrate the 50th… Continue reading Conference Review: Using Data to Inform Suicide and Self-harm Prevention
New research by A. Jess Williams, Emma Nielsen & Neil Coulson explores views about clinical services as expressed self-harm online communities, in order to understand which services are being used and why? Check out the full paper: “They aren’t all like that”: Perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities. Featuring Photo by… Continue reading “They aren’t all like that”: Perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities
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