Deliberate self-harm: an assessment of patients' attitudes to the care they receive

It has often been suggested that hospital staff have an unfavorable attitude to patients who deliberately harm themselves (DSH). Perhaps more important, however, is how the staff's attitudes are perceived by the patients, and how effective the various groups of professionals are in dealing with DSH patients' problems. In this study, questionnaires concerning the attitudes of staff were distributed to 142 DSH patients just prior to their discharge from hospital. In contrast to previous studies, where unfavorable attitudes towards DSH have been reported, patients were very positive about the attitudes of the staff. There were significant differences between the professional groups encountered, with nurses and social workers being particularly favorably regarded. Patients' perception of the amount of help they received was found to be highly significantly associated with certain staff attributes, in particular sympathy (r = 0.60) and listening behavior (r = 0.63). Patients requested a wide range of follow-up to be available, particularly emergency contacts (39%) and follow-up by social workers (39%) and nurses (37%). Females requested more follow-up than males. The implications of the findings for the management of DSH are discussed.