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Affiliation
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Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit, Monash University Accident Research Centre, 21 Alliance Lane, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia. Angela.clapperton@monash.edu. |
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Abstract
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PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine whether people who have been hospitalised as the result of non-fatal self-harm form meaningful groups based on mechanism of injury, and demographic and mental health-related factors.
METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 18,103 hospital admissions for self-harm in Victoria, Australia over the 3-year period 2014/2015-2016/2017 recorded on the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset (VAED). The VAED records all hospital admissions in public and private hospitals in Victoria. The primary analysis used a two-step method of cluster analysis. Initial analysis determined two distinct groups, one composed of individuals who had a recorded mental illness diagnosis and one composed of individuals with no recorded mental illness diagnosis. Subsequent cluster analysis identified four subgroups within each of the initial two groups.
RESULTS: Within the diagnosed mental illness subgroups, each subgroup was characterised by a particular mental disorder or a combination of disorders. Within the no diagnosis of mental illness groups, the youngest group was also the most homogenous (all females who self-poisoned), the oldest group had a high proportion of rural/regional residents, the group with the highest proportion of males also had the highest proportion of people who used cutting as the method of self-harm, and the group with the highest proportion of metropolitan residents also had the highest proportion of people who were married.
CONCLUSIONS: Preventative interventions need to take into account that those who are admitted to hospital for self-harm are a heterogeneous group.
Language: en |