The potential of general practice to support young people who self-harm: a narrative review

Mughal, F; Dikomitis, L; Babatunde, O; Chew-Graham, C

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Self-harm in young people is a growing public health concern. Young people commonly present to their GP for help with self-harm, and thus general practice may be a key setting to support young people who have self-harmed.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Aim</jats:title><jats:p>To examine the potential of general practice to support young people aged 10–25 years who have harmed themselves.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Design &amp; setting</jats:title><jats:p>A narrative review of published and grey literature.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>The Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA) was used to guide a narrative review to examine the potential of general practice to support young people who have self-harmed. The evidence is presented textually.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>The included evidence showed that GPs have a key role in supporting young people, and they sometimes relied on gut feeling when handling uncertainty on how to help young people who had self-harmed. Young people described the importance of initial clinician responses after disclosing self-harm, and if they were perceived to be negative, the self-harm could become worse.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>In context of the evidence included, this review found that general practice is a key setting for the identification and management of self-harm in young people; but improvements are needed to enhance general practice care for young people to fulfil its potential.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Citation

Mughal, F., Dikomitis, L., Babatunde, O., & Chew-Graham, C. (2022). The potential of general practice to support young people who self-harm: a narrative review. British Journal of General Practice Open (BJGP Open), BJGPO.2021.0159 - BJGPO.2021.0159. https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGPO.2021.0159

• Acceptance Date: Oct 13, 2022
• Publication Date: Feb 8, 2022
• Journal: BJGP Open
• Print ISSN: 2398-3795
• Publisher: Royal College of General Practitioners
• Pages: BJGPO.2021.0159 - BJGPO.2021.0159
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGPO.2021.0159
• Publisher URL: https://bjgpopen.org/content/early/2022/02/09/BJGPO.2021.0159