Objectives: To explore and understand the lived experiences of the legal guardians of adolescents who engaged in Deliberate Self-Harm while inves-tigating the need for further education and support. Method: Four participants and one pilot study were purposively sampled from the Child Guidance Unit in Malta— all recruited participants were the biological mothers of self-harming adolescents. Each participant was interviewed twice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the participants’ ex-periences and subjective perspectives, and they were all digitally recorded. All necessary ethical authorisations were collected. Sample: Participants were parents of adolescents who deliberately self-harmed and were receiving care at the Child Guidance Unit. None of the mothers were living with the adolescents’ biological father. Results: The super-ordinate themes identified were: Guardian’s depths of despair, Guardians weathering the storm and Hope in the midst of despair. Themes flowed from the discovery of Deliber-ate Self-Harm and initial reactions to the hopes and skills developed to deal with their respective circumstances. Conclusion: The need to develop better understanding of the traumatisation and difficult scenarios experienced by legal guardians was identified while further support, education and man-agement of Deliberate Self-Harm have been identified. Limited qualitative research exists that has investigated the phenomenon of DSH, especially from the legal guardians’ perspective. This research hopefully would assist involved legal guardians how to identify such phenomenon, how to educate themselves about it, and manage it successfully.
Cite this paper
Galea, R. and Galea, M. (2018). Lived Experiences of Legal Guardians of Adolescents Who Deliberate Self-Harm. Open Access Library Journal, 5, e5098. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1105098.
Cerutti, R., Manca, M., Presaghi, F. and Gratz, K.L. (2011) Prevelance and Clinical Correlates of Deliberate Self-Harm among a Community Sample of Italian Adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 34, 337-347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2010.04.004
Krikcaldy, B.D., Eysneck, M.W. and Siefen, G.R. (2004) Psychological and Social Predictors of Suicidal Ideation among Young Adolescents. School Psychology International, 25, 300-316. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034304046903
Nock, M.K., Teper, R. and Hollander, M. (2007) Psychological Treatment of Self-Injury among Adolescents. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63, 1081-1089. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20415
Trepal, H.C., Wester, K.L. and MacDonald, C.A. (2006) Self-Injury and Postvention: Responding to the Family in Crisis. The Family Journal, 14, 342-348. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480706291128
Mikolajczak, M., Petrides, K.V. and Hurry, J. (2009) Adolescents Choosing Self-Harm as an Emotional Regulation Strategy: The Protective Role of Trait Emotional Intelligence. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 48, 181-193. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466508X386027
Jacobson, C.M., Muehlenkamp, J.J., Miller, A.L. and Turner, J.B. (2008) Psychiatric Impairment among Adolescents Engaging in Different Types of Deliberate Self-Harm. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37, 363-375. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374410801955771
Chesley, K. and Loring-McNulty, N.E. (2003) Process of Suicide: Perspective of the Suicide Attempter. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Accosication, 9, 41-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1078-3903(03)00051-X
Fortune, S., Sinclair, J. and Hawton, K. (2008) Adolecents’ Views on Preventing Self-Harm. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43, 96-104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0273-1
Wright, J., Briggs, S. and Behringer, J. (2005) Attachment and the Body in Suicidal Adolesents: A Pilot Study. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 10, 477-491. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104505056310
Nicholls, D. (2009) Qualitative Research: Part One—Philosophies. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 16, 526-533. https://doi.org/10.12968/ijtr.2009.16.10.44562
Smith, J.A., Flowers, P. and Larkin, M. (2009) Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Theory, Method and Research. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks.
Burhans, L.M. and Alligood, M.R. (2010) Quality Nursing Care in the Words of Nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66, 1689-1697. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010.05344.x
Morgan, S., Rickar, E., Noone, M., Boylan, C., Carthy, A., Crowley, S., et al. (2013) Parents of Young People with Self-Harm or Suicidal Behaviour Who Seek Help—A Psychosocial Profile. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 7, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-2000-7-13
Thomson, S., Marriott, M., Telford, K., Law, H., McLaughlin, J. and Sayal, K. (2014) Adolescents with a Diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa: Parents’ Experience of Recognition and Deciding to Seek Help. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 19, 43-57. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104512465741
Appleyard, K. and Osofsky, J.D. (2003) Parenting after Trauma: Supporting Parents and Caregivers in the Treatment of Children Impacted by Violence. Infant Mental Health Journal, 24, 111-125. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.10050
Neacsiu, A.D., Rizvi, S.L., Vitaliano, P.P., Lynch, T.R. and Linehan, M.M. (2010) The Dialectial Behaviour Therapy Ways of Coping Checklist: Development and Psychometric Properties. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 66, 563-582.
Oldershaw, A., Richards, C., Simic, M. and Schmidt, U. (2008) Parents’ Perspectives on Adolescent Self-Harm: Qualitative Study. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 193, 140-144. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.107.045930
Sim, L., Adrian, M., Zeman, J., Cassano, M. and Friedrich, W.N. (2009) Adolescent Deliberate Self-Harm: Linkages to Emotion Regulation and Family Emotional Climate. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 19, 75-91. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00582.x