The implementation and first insights of the French-speaking Swiss programme for monitoring self-harm.

Details

Ressource 1Download: Ostertag et al. 2019.pdf (531.59 [Ko])
State: Public
Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_C7252EE9087A
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
The implementation and first insights of the French-speaking Swiss programme for monitoring self-harm.
Journal
Swiss medical weekly
Author(s)
Ostertag L., Golay P., Dorogi Y., Brovelli S., Bertran M., Cromec I., Van Der Vaeren B., Khan R., Costanza A., Wyss K., Edan A., Assandri F., Barbe R., Lorillard S., Saillant S., Michaud L.
ISSN
1424-3997 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0036-7672
Publication state
Published
Issued date
28/01/2019
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
149
Pages
w20016
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: epublish
Abstract
Self-harm is a major risk factor for suicide but remains poorly documented. No data on self-harm in French-speaking Switzerland exist. To address this deficiency, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health commissioned a specific self-harm monitoring programme. We present and discuss its implementation and first findings.
Every patient aged 18–65 years presenting for self-harm to the emergency departments of the Lausanne and Neuchâtel general hospitals were included in the monitoring programme over a 10-month period (December 2016 to September 2017). Clinicians collected anonymous sociodemographic and clinical data.
The sample included 490 patients (54.9% female and 45.1% male) for 554 episodes of self-harm, showing a higher proportion of patients aged 18–34 (49.2%) than older age groups (35–49, 33.7% and 50–65, 17.1%). Patients were mostly single (56.1%) and in problematic socioeconomic situations (65.7%). Self-poisoning was the most commonly used method (58.2%) and was preferred by women (71% of females and 42.5% of males, Fisher’s exact test, p <0.001) and the majority of patients (53.3%) had experienced at least one previous episode of self-harm. The self-harm rate was 220 per 100,000 inhabitants in Lausanne and 140 in Neuchâtel. Suicidal intent was clear for 50.6% of the overall sample, unclear for 25.1% and absent for 24.3%. It differed significantly between sites (χ2(2) = 9.068, p = 0.011) as Lausanne reported more incidents of unclear intent (27.7% versus 17.4% in Neuchâtel) and Neuchâtel more incidents with absence of intent (33.1% versus 21.3% in Lausanne). In Lausanne, patients more frequently resorted to methods such as jumping from a height (11.4%) and hanging (9%) than in Neuchâtel (1.6% and 4.9%, Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.006).
Our results are globally consistent with previous research on self-harm. We found significant inter-site differences in methods, suicidal intent and self-harm rates. Our findings highlight the importance of implementing local self-harm monitoring to identify specific at-risk groups and develop targeted preventive intervention.
Keywords
Adult, Age Distribution, Emergency Service, Hospital, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Risk Factors, Self-Injurious Behavior/epidemiology, Socioeconomic Factors, Suicide, Attempted/psychology, Suicide, Attempted/statistics & numerical data, Switzerland/epidemiology, Young Adult
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
23/11/2018 8:17
Last modification date
21/11/2022 8:28
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