Contesting constructs and interrogating research methods

Re-analysis of qualitative data from a hospital-based case study of self-harm management and prevention practices

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4820257
AutoresRhiannon Evans (0000-0002-0239-6331, autor correspondente), Catherine Sampson (0000-0002-6927-104X, Cardiff University), Sarah Macdonald (0000-0002-8245-2347, Cardiff University), Lucy Biddle (0000-0002-1090-8771, University of Bristol), Jonathan Scourfield (0000-0001-6218-8158, Cardiff University)
Ano2022
Volume26
Fascículo1
Páginas27-46
Data de publicação2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHealth An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1363-4593 • E-ISSN: 1461-7196
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13634593211038522
PMID34407668
OpenAlexW3185576446
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas36

Discourses of self-harm, and also suicide, are often underpinned by a central tenet: prevention is the priority. This belief is seemingly so inscribed in research that it is rarely interrogated. The present paper re-analyses qualitative data from a hospital-based study of self-harm management and prevention practice. It aims to reflect upon, and disrupt, the authors' latent assumptions about the construct of 'prevention', while reflecting on the research method used. Twenty-five individuals participated in semi-structured interviews: healthcare and affiliated professionals ( n = 14); parents and carers ( n = 8); and children and young people (aged 9-16 years) who had presented to an emergency department for self-harm, with or without suicidal intent ( n = 3). We offer two central discursive considerations: (1) Self-harm prevention is largely an unintelligible concept, having to be reflexively constructed in situ. As such, it is questionable whether it makes sense to discuss the prevention of this amorphous and dynamic phenomenon, which cannot always be disentangled from everyday life; (2) Interviews entail significant biographical work for participants, notably the performance of personal and professional competence for the audience. These interactional dynamics offer a glimpse into the priorities, meanings and needs for participants in relation to self-harm. Together these considerations provide useful insights into how the interview method can serve as both a limiting and illuminating site of knowledge creation

Harm · Health care · Political science · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Medicine · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies