Exploring Black British African and Caribbean peoples' experiences of self-harm and accessing support

It is important to understand the underrepresented experiences of self-harm and accessing support among Black British African and Caribbean individuals because of the low uptake of support from formal healthcare providers. This study aimed to explore Black British individuals' thoughts, feelings and experiences of self-harm, and to understand their lived experience of seeking, or not seeking, support from voluntary and community sector organisations.

Purposive sampling was utilised to identify Black British people that self-harm and have either accessed community-based services or never sought support. Six people took part in semi-structured interviews. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data.

Three group experiential themes were found. Firstly, the complexities of self-harm manifested in diverse ways and was something participants had a complex relationship with. Secondly, participants described navigating expectations; they concealed self-harm to protect against stigma and to uphold valued cultural norms of strength and success. Finally, promoting equity: community-based services were a preferred means of support but noted unaddressed hardships and a need for more culturally sensitive support.

Findings highlight the need for community-based services to develop equity-focused resources to achieve more culturally responsive care. Key findings, limitations and implications are discussed in relation to existing theory and suggestions for future research are made.