“They aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities

Self-harm is a critical public health issue, with strikingly low rates of attendance to clinical services. By offering support, anonymity, and open discussions, online communities hold useful insights into the factors which influence help-seeking behavior. We explore the perceptions of clinical serv...

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Main Authors: Williams, A. Jess, Nielsen, Emma, Coulson, Neil S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55058/
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author Williams, A. Jess
Nielsen, Emma
Coulson, Neil S.
author_facet Williams, A. Jess
Nielsen, Emma
Coulson, Neil S.
author_sort Williams, A. Jess
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Self-harm is a critical public health issue, with strikingly low rates of attendance to clinical services. By offering support, anonymity, and open discussions, online communities hold useful insights into the factors which influence help-seeking behavior. We explore the perceptions of clinical services in three self-harm online communities to understand which services are being used and why. Message threads from each community were extracted randomly until saturation, providing 513 messages across 60 threads. A thematic analysis was performed resulting in four key themes: access to appropriate services during an episode of self-harm, service preference, fears surrounding disclosure, and support.
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spelling nottingham-550582018-09-19T14:52:34Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55058/ “They aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities Williams, A. Jess Nielsen, Emma Coulson, Neil S. Self-harm is a critical public health issue, with strikingly low rates of attendance to clinical services. By offering support, anonymity, and open discussions, online communities hold useful insights into the factors which influence help-seeking behavior. We explore the perceptions of clinical services in three self-harm online communities to understand which services are being used and why. Message threads from each community were extracted randomly until saturation, providing 513 messages across 60 threads. A thematic analysis was performed resulting in four key themes: access to appropriate services during an episode of self-harm, service preference, fears surrounding disclosure, and support. SAGE 2018-07-19 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55058/1/They%201359105318788403%20%281%29.pdf Williams, A. Jess, Nielsen, Emma and Coulson, Neil S. (2018) “They aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities. Journal of Health Psychology . ISSN 1461-7277 Clinical services; Internet; Online communities; Self-harm; Thematic analysis http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1359105318788403 doi:10.1177/1359105318788403 doi:10.1177/1359105318788403
spellingShingle Clinical services; Internet; Online communities; Self-harm; Thematic analysis
Williams, A. Jess
Nielsen, Emma
Coulson, Neil S.
“They aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities
title “They aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities
title_full “They aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities
title_fullStr “They aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities
title_full_unstemmed “They aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities
title_short “They aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities
title_sort “they aren’t all like that”: perceptions of clinical services, as told by self-harm online communities
topic Clinical services; Internet; Online communities; Self-harm; Thematic analysis
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55058/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55058/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55058/