Understanding self-harm in different communities and culturally appropriate approaches to research

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we launched a study to look at how the current crisis has been affecting those who self-harm, and what their experiences of accessing support have been. We developed this study with a number of third sector organisations. It was during this development stage that we hit a problem however. Our advert, the language we used, was never going to reach out to people in communities where self-harm was still a taboo. With help from organisations like Blossom, we were able to tailor the advert to address this stigma. We are hoping that this tailored advert will help us reach these communities and give us a more representative picture of self-harm across the country.

Watch the following conversation to find out more about the issues that came up and how we have tried to address these in our research.