In Ireland, the National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm (Registry) has identified significant variation across hospitals in the assessment and management of patients presenting to hospital for self-harm with a significant number of patients leaving without a care plan. Prof Arensman intends to improve the care provided in Irish hospitals for people engaging in self-harm as well as improving early identification of
emerging clusters of suicide and self-harm. This is expected to reduce repeated selfharm and suicide nationally. The National Clinical Care Programme for Mental Health (NCCP-MH) and the new National Strategic Framework for Suicide Prevention 2015-2020 overseen by the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP), prioritise the enhanced assessment and management of self-harm patients presenting to hospitals, and early
identification of self-harm and suicide clusters. However, resources for addressing these strategic priorities are lacking. The vision of the proposed partnership between the NSRF, UCC, NCCP-MH, and NOSP is for Ireland to take a leading role in improving the care for people who engage in self-harm. The research builds on: the Registry, the Suicide Support and Information System, and the SSIS-ACE case-control study of risk factors associated with high risk selfharm and suicide.
Prof Arensman will examine:
Predictive factors associated with risk of repeated self-harm and suicide among people with a history of multiple self-harm acts and those engaging in
highly lethal self-harm acts
Develop, implement and assess the effectiveness of an enhanced self-harm assessment and intervention programme for self-harm nurses and mental
health professionals in general hospitals
Identify regional patterns of self-harm and suicide clustering over time.
The programme will adopt a mixed method approach including prospective cohort studies, a cluster randomised controlled trial, and geospatial statistical analysis. The longstanding track record of Prof Arensman and associated partnerships will ensure high quality research, impacting effectively on policy and service delivery.
