Finding Voices: Young People's Experiences of the Emergency Department

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Pilot study of expectations and experiences in the Emergency Department of adolescents following self-harm or accidental injury, and predictors of self-harm repetition

• IRAS ID

  260038

• Contact name

  Liza Keating

• Contact email

  liza.keating@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 11 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  Young people who self-harm commonly have wider emotional and behavioural problems that may affect their expectations and experiences of Emergency Department treatment (ED). Whether this is the case has not previously been studied, and is important to planning for a service that meets the needs of these patients. In turn these wider problems, or experiences in the ED may predict repetition of self-harm, and therefore provide clues as to how to improve ED provision to reduce repetition.
  This study will:
  a) pilot new measures, and examine prevalence, of a range of patient and family expectations and experiences of the ED
  b) examine whether adolescents’ pre-existing problems in regulating emotions and behaviours, ‘Borderline Personality dysfunction’ and expecting others to be emotionally unsupportive are associated with increased expectation of negative treatment by ED staff, and with negative experiences in the ED.
  c) examine whether pre-existing Borderline dysfunction will predict repetition up to a year later.
  We will assess 100 patients aged 12 – 18 attending the Royal Berkshire Hospital ED following self-harm. Within 30 minutes of admission, following informed consent, parents and patients will be asked for background information about the family. Patients will be asked to complete questionnaires about their expectations of how they will be treated in the ED. Patients and their parents or legal guardians will complete questionnaires about the patient’s mood and borderline personality difficulties. Following a minimum of 2 hours in the ED, parents or legal guardians and patients will be asked to complete a further questionnaire about the experience. Repetition of self-harm will be assessed from hospital records up to a year later.

• REC name

  South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  19/SC/0159

• Date of REC Opinion

  29 May 2019

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion