Keith Hawton
Self-harm in UK armed forces personnel: Descriptive and case-control study of general hospital presentations
Hawton, Keith; Harriss, Louise; Casey, Deborah; Simkin, Sue; Harrison, Kate; Bray, Isabelle; Blatchley, Nick
Authors
Louise Harriss
Deborah Casey
Sue Simkin
Kate Harrison
Issy Bray Issy.Bray@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Public Health (Epidemiology)
Nick Blatchley
Abstract
Background Little is known about self-harm in the armed forces. Aims To investigate the characteristics of armed forces personnel presenting to a general hospital following self-harm and compare these with matched controls who had self-harmed. Method Investigation of armed forces personnel presenting to hospital between 1989 and 2003 following self-harm and case-control comparison with people in the general population who had self-harmed. Results One hundred and sixty-six armed forces personnel presented with self-harm during the study period, of whom 72.3% (120) were male. Nearly two-thirds (62.7%) were aged under 25 years. Relationship problems (62.0%), employment problems (43.9%) and alcohol misuse (40.5%) were common. Fewer armed forces personnel than controls had evidence of current or past psychiatric disorders or treatment or a prior history of self-harm, and their suicidal intent was lower (males only). Of 64 people in the armed forces who presented during the first 9 years of the study period, 1 had died (from natural causes) by the end of 2000, compared with 9 (5.1%) of the controls, 6 by probable suicide. Conclusions Self-harm by armed forces personnel may often be a response to interpersonal and employment problems complicated by alcohol misuse, with relatively low suicide intent.
Citation
Hawton, K., Harriss, L., Casey, D., Simkin, S., Harrison, K., Bray, I., & Blatchley, N. (2009). Self-harm in UK armed forces personnel: Descriptive and case-control study of general hospital presentations. British Journal of Psychiatry, 194(3), 266-272. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.107.048595
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Mar 1, 2009 |
Publicly Available Date | Jun 8, 2019 |
Journal | British Journal of Psychiatry |
Print ISSN | 0007-1250 |
Electronic ISSN | 1472-1465 |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 194 |
Issue | 3 |
Pages | 266-272 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.107.048595 |
Keywords | self-harm, Armed Forces personnel |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1003020 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.107.048595 |
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