Forming ‘if-then’ plans has been shown to reduce self-harm among people admitted to hospital following an episode of self-harm.

To explore whether the same intervention, delivered online, could prevent future self-harm among a large community sample who had previously self-harmed.

UK adults were recruited to a randomised controlled trial and received either an intervention to reduce self-harm or one to reduce sedentariness (control group). Randomisation was stratified to ensure both groups were representative of the UK population. There were three primary outcomes: non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, assessed at baseline and 6 months post-intervention.

Participants (1040) were randomised to the intervention (n = 520) or control (n = 520) group. The vast majority of people formed implementation intentions in both the experimental (n = 459 (88.3%)) and control (n = 520 (100%)) condition. Overall, the intervention did not significantly reduce the frequency of NSSI, suicidal ideation or suicide attempts. Among people who had self-harmed in the past week at follow-up, mixed analysis of covariance revealed a significant interaction between time and condition for reflective motivation, F(1,102) = 7.08, P < 0.01, pn2 = 0.07, such that significantly lower levels of reflective motivation were reported at follow-up in the control condition, t(57) = 2.42, P = 0.02.

This web-based intervention has limited utility for reducing self-reported self-harm or suicidal ideation in adults with a history of self-harm. Further work is needed to improve the effectiveness of brief interventions for self-harm aimed at adults living in the community and to understand the conditions under which the intervention may or may not be effective.

Epidemiological evidence shows a concerning rise in youth mental health difficulties over the past three decades. Most evidence, however, comes from countries in Europe or North America, with far less known about changes in other global regions. This study aimed to compare adolescent mental health across two population-based cohorts in the UK, and two population-based cohorts in Pelotas, Brazil.

Four population-based cohorts with identical mental health measures were compared. In Brazil, these included the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort and the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort. In the UK, cohorts included the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and the Millennium Cohort Study. Mental health was measured in all cohorts using identical, parent-rated scores from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). This was assessed in both countries over approximately the same time periods, when adolescents were aged 11 (2004 vs 2015 in Brazil, and 2003 vs 2012 in the UK), with follow-up analyses focused on outcomes in later adolescence.

Mental health problems were higher in the UK for adolescents born in the early 2000s compared to those born in the early 1990s. In Pelotas, the opposite was found, whereby problems were lower for adolescents born in the early 2000s compared to those born in the early 1990s. Despite these promising reductions in mental health problems in Pelotas over time, SDQ scores remained higher in Pelotas compared to the UK.

Our study represents the first to compare two population-based cohorts in the UK, and two population-based cohorts in Pelotas, Brazil, to understand how mental health problems have changed over time across the two settings. Our findings provide the most up-to-date insight into population-level rates of youth mental health problems in Pelotas, and shed novel insight into how these have changed over the last two decades in comparison to the UK. In doing so, our study provides a tentative first step towards understanding youth mental health over time at a more global scale, and presents a valuable opportunity to examine putative contributors to differences across time.

Emotional problems, especially anxiety, have become increasingly common in recent generations. Few population-based studies have examined trajectories of emotional problems from early childhood to late adolescence or investigated differences in psychiatric and functional outcomes.

Using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC, n = 8286, 50.4% male), we modeled latent class growth trajectories of emotional problems, using the parent-reported Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire emotional scale (SDQ-E) on seven occasions (4–17 years). Psychiatric outcomes in young adulthood (21–25 years) were major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and self-harm. Functional outcomes were exam attainment, educational/occupational status, and social relationship quality.

We identified four classes of emotional problems: low (67.0%), decreasing (18.4%), increasing (8.9%), and persistent (5.7%) problems. Compared to those in the low class, individuals with decreasing emotional problems were not at elevated risk of any poor adult outcome. Individuals in the increasing and persistent classes had a greater risk of adult MDD (RR: 1.59 95% CI 1.13–2.26 and RR: 2.25 95% CI 1.49–3.41) and self-harm (RR: 2.37 95% CI 1.91–2.94 and RR: 1.87 95% CI 1.41–2.48), and of impairment in functional domains. Childhood sleep difficulties, irritability, conduct and neurodevelopmental problems, and family adversity were associated with a persistent course of emotional problems.

Childhood emotional problems were common, but those whose symptoms improved over time were not at increased risk for adverse adult outcomes. In contrast, individuals with persistent or adolescent-increasing emotional problems had a higher risk of mental ill-health and social impairment in young adulthood which was especially pronounced for those with persistent emotional problems.

Hard-to-treat childhood cancers are those where standard treatment options do not exist and the prognosis is poor. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are responsible for communicating with families about prognosis and complex experimental treatments. We aimed to identify HCPs’ key challenges and skills required when communicating with families about hard-to-treat cancers and their perceptions of communication-related training.

We interviewed Australian HCPs who had direct responsibilities in managing children/adolescents with hard-to-treat cancer within the past 24 months. Interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

We interviewed 10 oncologists, 7 nurses, and 3 social workers. HCPs identified several challenges for communication with families including: balancing information provision while maintaining realistic hope; managing their own uncertainty; and nurses and social workers being underutilized during conversations with families, despite widespread preferences for multidisciplinary teamwork. HCPs perceived that making themselves available to families, empowering them to ask questions, and repeating information helped to establish and maintain trusting relationships with families. Half the HCPs reported receiving no formal training for communicating prognosis and treatment options with families of children with hard-to-treat cancers. Nurses, social workers, and less experienced oncologists supported the development of communication training resources, more so than more experienced oncologists.

Resources are needed which support HCPs to communicate with families of children with hard-to-treat cancers. Such resources may be particularly beneficial for junior oncologists and other HCPs during their training, and they should aim to prepare them for common challenges and foster greater multidisciplinary collaboration.

The UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) (announced in March 2016; implemented in April 2018) aims to incentivise reformulation of soft drinks to reduce added sugar levels. The SDIL has been applauded as a policy success, and it has survived calls from parliamentarians for it to be repealed. We aimed to explore parliamentary reaction to the SDIL following its announcement until two years post-implementation in order to understand how health policy can become established and resilient to opposition.

Searches of Hansard for parliamentary debate transcripts that discussed the SDIL retrieved 186 transcripts, with 160 included after screening. Five stages of Applied Thematic Analysis were conducted: familiarisation and creation of initial codebooks; independent second coding; codebook finalisation through team consensus; final coding of the dataset to the complete codebook; and theme finalisation through team consensus.

The United Kingdom Parliament

N/A

Between the announcement (16/03/2016) – royal assent (26/04/2017), two themes were identified 1: SDIL welcomed cross-party 2: SDIL a good start but not enough. Between royal assent – implementation (5/04/2018), one theme was identified 3: The SDIL worked – what next? The final theme identified from implementation until 16/03/2020 was 4: Moving on from the SDIL.

After the announcement, the SDIL had cross-party support and was recognised to have encouraged reformulation prior to implementation. Lessons for governments indicate that the combination of cross-party support and a policy’s documented success in achieving its aim can help cement the resilience of it to opposition and threats of repeal.

Serious incident management and organisational learning are international patient safety priorities. Little is known about the quality of suicide investigations and, in turn, the potential for organisational learning. Suicide risk assessment is acknowledged as a complex phenomenon, particularly in the context of adult community mental health services. Root cause analysis (RCA) is the dominant investigative approach, although the evidence base underpinning RCA is contested, with little attention paid to the patient in context and their cumulative risk over time.

Recent literature proposes a Safety-II approach in response to the limitations of RCA. The importance of applying these approaches within a mental healthcare system that advocates a zero suicide framework, grounded in a restorative just culture, is highlighted.

Although integrative reviews and syntheses have clear methodological limitations, this approach facilitates the management of a disparate body of work to advance a critical understanding of patient safety in adult community mental healthcare.

Individuals who self-harm have increased suicide rates. Brief interventions are associated with reduced repeated suicide attempts. However, very few previous studies investigated the acceptability of brief interventions before implementing new trials.

We aimed to explore the perceptions of individuals who self-harm toward a brief intervention, the Chinese version of the volitional help sheet (VHS-C), which encourages people to link a critical situation with an appropriate response.

Fourteen participants who presented to hospitals with self-harm were interviewed about their perspectives regarding the acceptability of the paper- and web-based VHS-C. Data were analysed with the framework method.

The participants could understand the intended goal of the VHS-C by reading the written instructions, but indicated that having verbal instructions would also help. They shared the reasons why they felt the VHS-C was helpful (e.g. relatable contents, useful coping strategies and appropriate instructions that made them feel understood) or unhelpful (e.g., being not specific enough, not useful during the crisis and triggering negative emotional responses). Some indicated that the VHS-C might not be applicable to people experiencing ongoing distress in emergency departments. Most participants preferred the web-based to the paper-based VHS-C, and suggested that the format and frequency of follow-up reminders could leave the patient to decide.

The contents of the VHS-C were acceptable for people who presented to hospitals with self-harm. The VHS-C may be more helpful before individuals encounter suicidal thoughts than when they have an ongoing crisis.

The WHO EMT Minimum Data Set (EMT-MDS) was designed for data collection in sudden-onset disasters. Using EMT-MDS in the context of primary health care (PHC) generated large quantities of low granularity data that threatened the successful delivery of UK-Med’s clinical programs in Ukraine. Accordingly, UK-Med developed, piloted, and implemented a new coding tool (PHC-CT) tailored to PHC presentations prevalent in humanitarian settings.

To assess the performance of EMT-MDS and PHC-CT in the generation of programmatically-useful diagnostic codes from data collected in mobile PHC clinics in Ukraine during active conflict.

To compare the performance of EMT-MDS and PHC-CT in this setting and to suggest recommendations for data collection tool improvements.

After multiple iterations, the final version of PHC-CT was used to collect clinical data from all UK-Med clinical encounters in Ukraine from March 28, 2022-May 13, 2022. Clinical data using EMT-MDS were collected simultaneously. The prevalence of each diagnostic code was calculated using both EMT-MDS and PHC-CT, expressed as a proportion of the total diagnoses, and compared between the two coding tools.

1,390 clinical encounters took place during the study. Data coded using EMT-MDS generated 1,756 diagnoses (86.8% of total diagnoses) categorized as “Other Diagnosis” while the same data coded using PHC-CT generated 37 diagnoses (1.8% of total diagnoses) categorized as “Other Diagnosis.” Only seven of the available 25 diagnostic codes in EMT-MDS were used, while 48 of the 67 available diagnostic codes in PHC-CT were used.

PHC-CT offers substantial benefits beyond those provided by EMT-MDS when utilized in mobile PHC clinics in humanitarian settings.

Tables and Figures (optional)

Table 1.

Number of Clinical Encounters, Unique Diagnoses, and Frequency of Selected Diagnostic Codes for EMT-MDS and PHC-CT. (Note: % refers to proportion of diagnoses made)

The volitional help sheet for self-harm equips people with the means of responding automatically to triggers for self-harm with coping strategies. Improving acceptability may be crucial to increasing effectiveness and reach. The Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (TFA) was developed to guide the assessment of intervention acceptability, but to date, no studies have applied the TFA to understand acceptability of interventions for self-harm.

To apply the TFA to (a) explore people's experiences of a brief intervention to reduce repeat self-harm; and (b) understand the most prominent aspects of intervention acceptability, to make recommendations for intervention refinements and successful implementation.

Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with people who had previously self-harmed. The TFA informed a framework analysis in which findings were mapped onto the TFA.

Four TFA domains were identified that were associated with acceptability of the volitional help sheet for self-harm: affective attitude, burden, intervention coherence and perceived effectiveness. People were generally positive about using the volitional help sheet (affective attitude), understood the volitional help sheet and how it worked (intervention coherence), highlighted engagement as a motivating factor in using the volitional help sheet (perceived burden) and described how the volitional help sheet could be implemented by healthcare professionals (perceived effectiveness).

Further modifications could still be made, but it is hoped that this intervention provides a useful tool for individuals to construct their own personalised implementation intentions, and as part of longer-term support for preventing self-harm as delivered by healthcare professionals.