Therapeutic Nursing Interventions to Reduce Self-Injurious Behavior: A Scoping Review

Self-Injurious Behavior (SIB) is a behavior that can lead to mental health problems and may become a contributing factor to future suicide. Intervention and strategy have been reported to be effective in reducing and preventing SIB. However, there are no existing reviews that report it from the nursing perspective even though nurses play a crucial role in caring for individuals with SIB.

This scoping review aims to identify nursing care interventions that can be used to reduce SIB.

The study was based on the five-stage methodological framework and was guided by the PRISMA-ScR. We searched from 2 to 9 June 2025 records identified from database Pubmed (n = 12105); CINAHL (n = 145807); Scopus (n = 99); Garuda (n = 46) and a total of 158057 literature screened, 4 studies published between 2015 and 2025 were included in the review. The key words in English were nursing care OR therapy AND adolescents AND adults, young AND non suicidal self-injury OR self-harm OR self-injurious behavior. While in Bahasa Indonesian were Intervensi Keperawatan OR Terapi Keperawatan AND Remaja AND Dewasa AND Self-Harm OR non-suicidal self-injury.

We found 4 articles showing therapeutic interventions by nurses to reduce SIB in both clinical and non-clinical settings. Four types of interventions were used to reduce SIB, and recommended therapeutic nursing intervention in groups is group psychological nursing. Meanwhile, in hospital settings, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is the recommended method, and in communities, a combination of psychoeducation and MBCT is recommended. Dhikr is recommended as a culturally practice.

Our findings highlight that four methods are effective in reducing SIB and provide valuable references for both clinical and non-clinical applications in children, adolescents, and adults. Our study indicates that the potential of four intervention can be used as a strategy in the mental health nursing and psychiatric area.