In 2022, one Australian child aged 14 years and under died on average every 11 days by suicide. Underpinning the tragic loss of these young lives, it is estimated between 2.6-6.5% of Australian children engaged in self-harm behaviours in the previous year. Hospitalisations for intentional self-harm injuries in children aged 14 years and below are increasing, although lower than other age groups. However, these data may be a significant underestimate of intentional self-harm injuries and hospitalisations in children, as it may be unclear to clinicians whether a self-inflicted injury was done with intent to self-harm and many children do not present to health services for treatment. There is an urgent need to develop a comprehensive understanding of the motivations for, identification of, and help-seeking for self-harm and suicidal ideation in children aged 14 years and under. Much of the knowledge we have is derived from adolescent or young adult populations.
This research takes an integrated approach to study self-harm and suicidal ideation as behaviours on a continuum that frequently overlap. While distinct behaviours, they share risk factors and commonly co-occur, and self-harm is one of the biggest risk factors for suicide, particularly in children and adolescents. Our previous research has highlighted that educators, parents and primary school psychologists are calling for more evidence-informed resources and information in order to support children more effectively.
Our co-designed research aims to address these knowledge gaps by collaboratively designing an ethical and sensitive research approach to interviewing children about self-harm and suicidal thoughts with a group of experts by experience and clinical and academic experts. The co-design methodology provides an inclusive approach that ensures the integration of all stakeholders' diverse perspectives and insights into the research process, thereby enhancing the relevance and implementation of research outcomes.
Our co-design group meets via video conference to facilitate participation by a geographically diverse group from across Australia. There are 8 members with lived experience and 6 members with clinical and academic experience.
This presentation will share the process of co-designing these approaches and resources and share our reflections on the process. We will also share the outcomes of this co-design work, including the findings from our scoping review and the new resources we have developed to assist health professionals, educators, caseworkers, carers and kinship members in supporting children who are experiencing self-harm and suicidal thoughts across different contexts.