People who attend hospital having engaged in self-harm are an important priority group for suicide prevention. Each hospital attendance following self-harm represents an opportunity to provide evidence-based care and safety planning. In 2015, a national clinical programme for self-harm was implemented in Ireland. The PRISM project found that improvements included greater provision of biopsychosocial assessments, fewer admissions and more mental health-related referrals, in hospitals that did not have pre-existing services. However our previous research, as part of the PRISM project, identified that elements of the programme have been difficult to implement, particularly those that involve family members/carers and collaborative safety planning with the patient.
PRISM-KTA will build on the learnings from PRISM, by undertaking a series of knowledge translation activities to develop family-informed care (involving family members/carers in the provision of care) for people who attend hospital following self-harm. A seminar and World Café will clarify the challenges and opportunities of family-informed care, with a focus on safety planning and care pathways, gathering perspectives from health professionals, policy makers, individuals with lived experience, and family members/carers. The findings from the World Café will be used to inform the development of an e-learning module for health professionals providing care for patients with self-harm and the development of informational material for patients presenting to hospital with self-harm and their families/carers. It is expected that this project will ensure ongoing collaboration and implementation of evidence-based care for self-harm, with a focus on co-design, collaboration and shared decision making between health professionals, patients and family members.