Citation

Chandler A, King C, Burton C, Platt S. Crisis 2015; 37(1): 42-50.

Affiliation

Centre for Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/0227-5910/a000325

PMID

26572907

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The relationship between self-harm and suicide is contested. Self-harm is simultaneously understood to be largely nonsuicidal but to increase risk of future suicide. Little is known about how self-harm is conceptualized by general practitioners (GPs) and particularly how they assess the suicide risk of patients who have self-harmed. AIMS: The study aimed to explore how GPs respond to patients who had self-harmed. In this paper we analyze GPs' accounts of the relationship between self-harm, suicide, and suicide risk assessment.

METHOD: Thirty semi-structured interviews were held with GPs working in different areas of Scotland. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed thematically.

RESULTS: GPs provided diverse accounts of the relationship between self-harm and suicide. Some maintained that self-harm and suicide were distinct and that risk assessment was a matter of asking the right questions. Others suggested a complex inter-relationship between self-harm and suicide; for these GPs, assessment was seen as more subjective. In part, these differences appeared to reflect the socioeconomic contexts in which the GPs worked.

CONCLUSION: There are different conceptualizations of the relationship between self-harm, suicide, and the assessment of suicide risk among GPs. These need to be taken into account when planning training and service development.

Language: en