Self harm is not reduced by a letter

A letter sent by the general practitioner inviting patients who have deliberately harmed themselves to consult and the use of guidelines in any subsequent consultation does not reduce the incidence of repeated self harm. In a randomised controlled trial by Bennewith and colleagues (p 1254), general practitioners in the intervention group were given information on patients who had attended accident and emergency departments after an episode of deliberate self harm. They sent letters to 58% of such patients, whereas in the control group (no information on attendance given), general practitioners made contact with 15% of such patients. The incidence of subsequent self harm in the two groups of patients was similar.

(Credit: REX)

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Relevant Article

General practice based intervention to prevent repeat episodes of deliberate self harm: cluster randomised controlled trial • Commentary: Clinical guidelines have limitations

Olive Bennewith, Nigel Stocks, David Gunnell, Tim J Peters, Mark O Evans, Deborah J Sharp, and Richard Morriss
BMJ 2002 324: 1254-1257. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]