Brief Admission by Self-referral for Adolescents Who Self-harm, at Risk for Suicide. A Qualitative Study to Optimise and Standardise the Intervention

There is still no consensus on how to manage suicidal behavior in youth with recurrent self-harm at times when the risk for suicide is imminent (1). Brief Admission (BA) has evolved as a promising crisis intervention for adults with self-harm (2). The characteristics of BA is different from other types of admission, being focused on prevention through increased autonomy and self-care, based on structured and voluntary brief self-referrals to hospital (3). As a result of a randomized controlled trial, BA is since January 2019, continuously offered to adults with self-harm at risk for suicide in Skåne (4). Parallel to this clinical trial, the method has been adapted to work in a psychiatric setting for adolescents. At present 24 adolescents have access to the method in Skåne. Clinical experiences from staff are promising, however, the lived experiences have not been collected in a standardized way.

The aim of the present study is to gather information on how BA in its present, standardized form works for adolescents, their loved ones and staff working at the ward providing BA. This will be done through semi-structured interviews with:

1. Adolescents using BA and their loved ones
2. Staff working at the ward providing BA. Data will be analyzed with qualitative analysis (5, 6). The ultimate aim is to use these results to optimize the current standardized version of BA for adolescents in order to test in a randomized clinical trial.