“Treat me like a fellow human”: how young adults who blog about self-harm describe positive encounters with health care workers

Abstract

Self-harm is a major problem among young adults, and many do not seek help from health care services. Little is known about how patients who harm themselves experience positive encounters with health care workers. Blogs are a way of communicating personal experiences to a broader public and may provide an immediate expression of such experiences. We conducted a thematic analysis of blog entries written by ten patients who carry out self-harm, in order to answer the question: How do young adults who blog about their self-harming describe positive encounters with health care workers? The analysis revealed four meta-themes: 1) I feel cared for, 2) I am treated like a fellow human, 3) I can talk about everything, and 4) I feel that the helper takes charge. Emotion regulation skills emerged as the most valued specific therapeutic ingredient. These findings are relevant for making young adults who self-harm feel understood and cared for.

Keywords:

• blog
• common factors
• health care
• self-harm
• young adults

Declaration of conflicting interests

The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Supplemental material

More of the anonymized quotes from the data material are included in Table 1, which is attached as supplementary material. We cannot disclose the data material in full, because it could be looked up online and potentially disclose the identity of participants.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.