Experiences Among Family Members, Carers and Significant Others of Brief Admission by Self-referral for Self-harming and Suicidal Persons: a Qualitative Study

As a result of the randomized controlled trial evaluating BA in Skåne (NCT02985047), BA is since January 2019, continuously offered to persons with self-harm at risk for suicide in Skåne, Sweden. Parallel to the clinical trial qualitative interview studies have been performed on the experiences of BA, with participants during the pilot phase of the trial and among the most severely ill persons and from the viewpoint of psychiatric staff. The present study aims to complement the above-mentioned studies with analysis of real-life experiences of BA from the perspective of loved ones to persons with current access to BA. This is important since the persons close to those suffering from recurrent self-harm and suicidal ideation play an essential role in times of crisis and may beneficially contribute to motivation as well as effects of provided care.

In this qualitative inductive study individual semi-structured interviews will be held with family members, carers and significant others of persons with an active BA contract, who has given informed consent to participate. To identify potential informants, persons with an active BA contract, who have used BA within the last three months, at the wards in Lund, Malmö, Helsingborg or Kristianstad will be contacted and asked about contact information (name and telephone number) to a person close to them who may be contacted regarding inclusion in the present study. A variation of contract length (minimum one month since first signed contract) is strived for. The number of interviews will depend on the number of active contracts at the included wards and the proportion of those where potential participants may be contacted and who subsequently consent to participate, but with a maximum of 25 interviews. Interviews are estimated to be 30-60 minutes, and will be conducted in a calm place, chosen by the participant. Interviews will be performed by doctoral students in psychiatry and supervised by a senior researcher with experience of psychiatry and qualitative research. Interviews will be transcribed and analyzed by a phenomenological hermeneutic method or by content analysis depending on richness and depth in the interviews. Findings from this study will be published.