THE LANGUAGE OF CUTTING: INITIAL REFLECTIONS ON A STUDY OF THE EXPERIENCES OF SELF-INJURY IN A GROUP OF WOMEN AND NURSES

Abstract

Non-suicidal self-injury is a distressing act, which can arouse dissent and negative comment in service users and providers. The purpose of the study was to describe how women who self-injure and nurses assign meaning to shared discourses about self-injury. The wider study is framed in a grounded theory methodology. Fourteen qualified nurses and 11 women who have self-injured were interviewed using unstructured and initially open-ended interviews, lasting 45–90 minutes. Initially a thematic analysis was used to code data. In this report, three of the early themes are reported with some comparative interpretations. Nurses lack understanding of the meanings of cutting behaviour. A common language is needed if nurses are to be effective in helping women who have self-injured to express distress in less damaging ways.

Notes

¹This study included midwives even through they are not considered nurses in the UK.

²A term suggested to me by Michael, a self-injurer, who acted as a consultant in a related conference run by the author.