This literature review addresses gaps in the current understanding of self-harm, using a systematic review and meta-ethnography approach to better
understand diverse lived experiences of self-harm.
Understanding the prevalence of self-harm, as well as demographic pattern sand trends is important. However, equally important is understanding the range of meanings and functions that self-harm plays in the lives of people who self-harm, and how it is explained and understood by them.
Using a meta-ethnographic approach to better understand diverse lived experiences of self-harm, this review addresses gaps in current understanding of self-harm, offers a nuanced exploration of the experiences of those who self-harm, and aims to situate lived experience of self-harm within intersecting socio-economic and cultural contexts.
This review addresses the following research questions:
1. How do people who self-harm make sense of self-harm; what functions and meanings does it have?
2. How is self-harm related to other social factors in qualitative literature?
3. What experiences do people who self-harm report with services?
4. What messages do answers to the above questions pose for the new self-harm strategy in Scotland?