Profiling Attitudes Toward Individuals Who Self-Harm Among Mental Health Workers in Sweden: A Cross-Sectional Study

Mental health workers' attitudes toward individuals who self-harm impact accessibility and quality of care. Previous studies have established the role of training on professionals' attitudes, with mixed findings for gender and work experience. While self-report attitudinal scales are frequently used, latent response trends across such scales are seldom considered. The present study examines mental health workers' responses across the Self-Harm Antipathy Scale - Swedish Revised (SHAS-SR) and explores the predictive roles of various intrapersonal and contextual factors.

On a sample of 596 mental health workers in Sweden, we employed standard multiple regression to predict outcomes on the SHAS-SR. We performed latent profile analysis on SHAS-SR subscales to identify distinct attitude profiles and their predictors.

We identified four distinct attitude profiles: Sympathetic, Reluctant, Judging, and Antipathic. Area of work and gender predicted both wholescale scores and certain profile memberships. Working in emergency settings was associated with more negative attitudes and nearly nine times higher odds of an Antipathic rather than Sympathetic scoring pattern, compared to non-emergency workers.

Interventions to improve attitudes toward individuals who self-harm ought to be prioritized in emergency settings. The SHAS-SR scale might be used to identify target groups for health equity efforts in mental healthcare.