Hospital Outpatient Psychotherapy Engagement Service for Self-Harm
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Hospital Outpatient Psychotherapy Engagement Service for Self-Harm
IRAS ID
306851
Contact name
Pooja Saini
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Self-harm refers to any intentional self-injury or self-poisoning, with or without the intention to end one’s life. People who self-harm are at high risk of suicide, and often experience a range of social and mental health issues and considerable emotional distress. With an increased risk of suicide in the six months following an episode of self-harm, intervention following a presentation to Accident & Emergency Department (AED) is imperative in the pursuit of suicide prevention and reduction in repeated hospital attendances. Brief psychological therapies may be helpful for people who have recently self-harmed. The Hope Outpatient Psychotherapy Engagement (HOPE) service combines elements of psychodynamic interpersonal and cognitive analytic therapy to help people who present with self-harm-related difficulties.
The primary aim of this study is to examine variables associated with engagement, and change over time in psychological distress for those attending the service and about their experience of using the service. Self-harm services are sparse and many people receive no help at all. To our knowledge, there have been no evaluations of psychological treatments for people who self-harm in the UK, and it is unclear which treatments might work best for people who self-harm.
The HOPE service intervention has been successfully piloted in a hospital emergency department, but we plan to explore the effectiveness of the intervention by comparing all those who did and did not take up the service. We will review data for people aged 16 or over, who attended A&E for self-harm and were referred to the HOPE service. The main purpose of this study is to find out whether HOPE proves to be an effective intervention for reducing readmission to hospital, then this new model of care has the potential to be delivered more widely as an effective, low cost, convenient, safe and easily deliverable intervention.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/NW/0321
Date of REC Opinion
9 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion