Charlotte Williamson, Walter Busuttil, Amos Simms, Laura Palmer, Sharon A M Stevelink, Marie-Louise Sharp
{"title":"“振作起来,继续下去”:对英国退役人员寻求自我伤害和自杀行为帮助的定性探索。","authors":"Charlotte Williamson, Walter Busuttil, Amos Simms, Laura Palmer, Sharon A M Stevelink, Marie-Louise Sharp","doi":"10.1080/20008066.2025.2480990","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b>Background:</b> A substantial proportion of UK military personnel experiencing mental health problems do not seek professional support. Although the promotion of help-seeking is a key suicide prevention strategy, little is known about help-seeking for self-harm and suicidal behaviours among the UK Armed Forces.<b>Objective:</b> This study aimed to explore UK ex-serving personnel's experiences of seeking help for self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts.<b>Method:</b> Participants were recruited via an existing longitudinal cohort study exploring the health and well-being of the UK Armed Forces. A subgroup of ex-serving personnel reporting lifetime self-harm and/or suicidal behaviours was invited to participate in semi-structured interviews and 15 individuals participated, representing help-seekers/non-help-seekers and formal/informal support. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.<b>Results:</b> Five distinct but related and interacting themes were developed: (1) military mindset; (2) stigma; (3) fear of consequences; (4) access to and awareness of support; and (5) facilitators to help-seeking.<b>Conclusions:</b> Help-seeking decisions and experiences were influenced by several barriers and facilitators. Providing an environment where military populations feel willing and able to access support for self-harm and suicidal behaviours could lessen the impact on their health and well-being and ultimately save lives.</p>","PeriodicalId":12055,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychotraumatology","volume":"16 1","pages":"2480990"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"'Man up and get on with it': a qualitative exploration of UK ex-serving personnel's experiences of seeking help for self-harm and suicidal behaviours.\",\"authors\":\"Charlotte Williamson, Walter Busuttil, Amos Simms, Laura Palmer, Sharon A M Stevelink, Marie-Louise Sharp\",\"doi\":\"10.1080/20008066.2025.2480990\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p><p><b>Background:</b> A substantial proportion of UK military personnel experiencing mental health problems do not seek professional support. Although the promotion of help-seeking is a key suicide prevention strategy, little is known about help-seeking for self-harm and suicidal behaviours among the UK Armed Forces.<b>Objective:</b> This study aimed to explore UK ex-serving personnel's experiences of seeking help for self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts.<b>Method:</b> Participants were recruited via an existing longitudinal cohort study exploring the health and well-being of the UK Armed Forces. A subgroup of ex-serving personnel reporting lifetime self-harm and/or suicidal behaviours was invited to participate in semi-structured interviews and 15 individuals participated, representing help-seekers/non-help-seekers and formal/informal support. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.<b>Results:</b> Five distinct but related and interacting themes were developed: (1) military mindset; (2) stigma; (3) fear of consequences; (4) access to and awareness of support; and (5) facilitators to help-seeking.<b>Conclusions:</b> Help-seeking decisions and experiences were influenced by several barriers and facilitators. Providing an environment where military populations feel willing and able to access support for self-harm and suicidal behaviours could lessen the impact on their health and well-being and ultimately save lives.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":12055,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"European Journal of Psychotraumatology\",\"volume\":\"16 1\",\"pages\":\"2480990\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":4.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-12-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"European Journal of Psychotraumatology\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"3\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2480990\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"医学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"2025/4/4 0:00:00\",\"PubModel\":\"Epub\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"PSYCHIATRY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Psychotraumatology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2480990","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/4/4 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
'Man up and get on with it': a qualitative exploration of UK ex-serving personnel's experiences of seeking help for self-harm and suicidal behaviours.
Background: A substantial proportion of UK military personnel experiencing mental health problems do not seek professional support. Although the promotion of help-seeking is a key suicide prevention strategy, little is known about help-seeking for self-harm and suicidal behaviours among the UK Armed Forces.Objective: This study aimed to explore UK ex-serving personnel's experiences of seeking help for self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts.Method: Participants were recruited via an existing longitudinal cohort study exploring the health and well-being of the UK Armed Forces. A subgroup of ex-serving personnel reporting lifetime self-harm and/or suicidal behaviours was invited to participate in semi-structured interviews and 15 individuals participated, representing help-seekers/non-help-seekers and formal/informal support. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.Results: Five distinct but related and interacting themes were developed: (1) military mindset; (2) stigma; (3) fear of consequences; (4) access to and awareness of support; and (5) facilitators to help-seeking.Conclusions: Help-seeking decisions and experiences were influenced by several barriers and facilitators. Providing an environment where military populations feel willing and able to access support for self-harm and suicidal behaviours could lessen the impact on their health and well-being and ultimately save lives.
期刊介绍:
The European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT) is a peer-reviewed open access interdisciplinary journal owned by the European Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS). The European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT) aims to engage scholars, clinicians and researchers in the vital issues of how to understand, prevent and treat the consequences of stress and trauma, including but not limited to, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depressive disorders, substance abuse, burnout, and neurobiological or physical consequences, using the latest research or clinical experience in these areas. The journal shares ESTSS’ mission to advance and disseminate scientific knowledge about traumatic stress. Papers may address individual events, repeated or chronic (complex) trauma, large scale disasters, or violence. Being open access, the European Journal of Psychotraumatology is also evidence of ESTSS’ stand on free accessibility of research publications to a wider community via the web. The European Journal of Psychotraumatology seeks to attract contributions from academics and practitioners from diverse professional backgrounds, including, but not restricted to, those in mental health, social sciences, and health and welfare services. Contributions from outside Europe are welcome. The journal welcomes original basic and clinical research articles that consolidate and expand the theoretical and professional basis of the field of traumatic stress; Review articles including meta-analyses; short communications presenting new ideas or early-stage promising research; study protocols that describe proposed or ongoing research; case reports examining a single individual or event in a real‑life context; clinical practice papers sharing experience from the clinic; letters to the Editor debating articles already published in the Journal; inaugural Lectures; conference abstracts and book reviews. Both quantitative and qualitative research is welcome.