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Purpose@#This qualitative study used interpretative phenomenological analysis and photovoice methods to explore the meaning of non-suicidal self-injury experienced by adolescents. @*Methods@#Participants were adolescents enrolled in middle and high schools in Gyeonggi-do and Jeollabuk-do who were selected through snowball sampling. Six participants had repeatedly engaged in self-injurious behavior for over a year. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and the photovoice method between November 2020 and July 2021. The collected data were analyzed using six steps of interpretative phenomenological analysis. @*Results@#The results yielded 5 main themes and 18 subthemes. The main themes were ‘a silent cry to an indifferent world’, ‘a heartache that one endures with scars’, ‘an inescapable cycle’, ‘filling the space in one’s heart’, and ‘healing the wounds’. The study findings revealed that the self-injurious behavior of adolescents began as a consequence of feeling lost and struggling with conflicts at home and school, which helped them relieve tension and pain. Nonetheless, inflicting self-injury only left signs of regret and remorse, which became a trace that the participants wanted to hide. However, the wounds healed after receiving attention and support from others. They were determined to stop engaging in repeated self-injurious behaviors and made efforts to do so. @*Conclusion@#This study can be used as a basis for the development of educational programs to prevent non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents. Additionally, it can inform nursing interventions that focus on building support systems to help adolescents who attempt self-injury.
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the current situation and the limitations of the Mental Health Review Board and to identify the effectiveness of the community linkage for discharged patients. METHODS: The data was collected from the 116 patients who were discharged from August 2005 to July 2007 by the order of the Mental Health Review Board. The survey was conducted by telephone with using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: 51 patients (44.0%) were able to be referred to community mental health services when they discharged. The readmission rate was 50.9% and the mean duration to the first readmission was 51.73 days (S.D.=103.5). The mean duration to the first readmission was significantly longer for the group that was referred to community services and that had a negative correlation with the stability of health security. The outpatient maintenance rate and the current admission status were also significantly different between the group that was referred to community services and the group that was not referred. CONCLUSION: The activities of the mental health review board have definite limitations in Korea such as the high rate of immediate readmissions after the discharge orders. A hospital-community integrated service system could be one possible solution to improve the maintenance of mental health patients in the community and to prevent their readmission.