Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-68).

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, August, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Self-injury behavior is identified as the non-suicidal, deliberate infliction of a wound to oneself in an attempt to seek expression. Self-injury is becoming more prevalent in the adolescent population; however, many nursing professionals are unaware of this phenomenon and the implications it holds for nursing. Approximately 12 to 17 percent of adolescents deliberately injure themselves although accurate statistics are difficult to obtain due to the secret and private nature of the behavior. Nurses, especially those who care for adolescents, could benefit from an understanding of the implications of self-injury, the characteristics of adolescents who self-injure, the expressivity of the behavior, and the repetitive patterns of the emotions experienced by adolescents who self-injure. Six adolescent females were interviewed for this study. Their stories were shared in rich, descriptive narratives. Common themes emerged from the words of the participants and these themes described the essence of self-injury by cutting for adolescent females. The themes which emerged were living with childhood trauma, feeling abandoned, being an outsider, loathing self, silently screaming, releasing the pressure, feeling alive, being ashamed, and being hopeful for self and others. The general structure that emerged from a synthesis of the themes was that the experience of self-injury by cutting for adolescent females is one where they are struggling for well-being and hoping for more being by using their skin as a canvas upon which internal pain is expressed as tangible and real. / by Rhonda Goodman Lesniak. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Afrikaans text / The purpose of the research was to investigate the experiences of adolescents who identify with the Emo subculture in a specific high school in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. Qualitative, applied research of an exploring and descriptive nature was conducted. The literature study focused on human development, the concepts contra-culture and subculture, Gestalt development, Gestalt therapy theories and the ecological theory. This served as a framework for the findings, which was based on unstructured interviews with persons who identified with the Emo subculture. Data triangulation was of special interest in this study to ensure reliability and validity, especially in the light of the fact that limited specialised literature is available on the Emo subculture. Various findings are described and recommendations are made for further research. / Die doel van die navorsing was om die belewenisse van adolessente wat met die Emo-subkultuur identifiseer, in ’n spesifieke hoërskool in die noordelike voorstede van Kaapstad te ondersoek. Kwalitatiewe, toegepaste navorsing van verkennende en beskrywende aard is gedoen. Die literatuurstudie het gefokus op menslike ontwikkeling, die konsepte kontrakultuur en subkultuur, Gestalt-ontwikkeling, Gestaltterapie-teorieë en die ekologiese teorie. Dit het as raamwerk vir die bevindinge gedien, wat gegrond is op ongestruktureerde onderhoude met persone wat met die Emo-subkultuur identifiseer. Data-triangulering was van besondere belang in hierdie ondersoek om vertrouenswaardigheid en geldigheid te verseker, veral in die lig daarvan dat daar min vakkundige literatuur oor die Emo-subkultuur beskikbaar is. Verskeie bevindinge word beskryf en aanbevelings word gemaak vir verdere navorsing. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Spelterapie)

Afrikaans text / The purpose of the research was to investigate the experiences of adolescents who identify with the Emo subculture in a specific high school in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. Qualitative, applied research of an exploring and descriptive nature was conducted. The literature study focused on human development, the concepts contra-culture and subculture, Gestalt development, Gestalt therapy theories and the ecological theory. This served as a framework for the findings, which was based on unstructured interviews with persons who identified with the Emo subculture. Data triangulation was of special interest in this study to ensure reliability and validity, especially in the light of the fact that limited specialised literature is available on the Emo subculture. Various findings are described and recommendations are made for further research. / Die doel van die navorsing was om die belewenisse van adolessente wat met die Emo-subkultuur identifiseer, in ’n spesifieke hoërskool in die noordelike voorstede van Kaapstad te ondersoek. Kwalitatiewe, toegepaste navorsing van verkennende en beskrywende aard is gedoen. Die literatuurstudie het gefokus op menslike ontwikkeling, die konsepte kontrakultuur en subkultuur, Gestalt-ontwikkeling, Gestaltterapie-teorieë en die ekologiese teorie. Dit het as raamwerk vir die bevindinge gedien, wat gegrond is op ongestruktureerde onderhoude met persone wat met die Emo-subkultuur identifiseer. Data-triangulering was van besondere belang in hierdie ondersoek om vertrouenswaardigheid en geldigheid te verseker, veral in die lig daarvan dat daar min vakkundige literatuur oor die Emo-subkultuur beskikbaar is. Verskeie bevindinge word beskryf en aanbevelings word gemaak vir verdere navorsing. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Spelterapie)

Repetitive self-mutilation (RSM) has become increasingly prevalent among adolescents. Empirical research has pinpointed several correlates of this behavior, but the initiation and maintenance of RSM among adolescents are not well understood. The experiential avoidance model (EAM) proposes that self-mutilation is a behavior that allows for the avoidance or alteration of unwanted internal experiences, and that it is negatively reinforced with repetition. The current study explored the usefulness of the EAM as an explanatory theory for adolescent RSM, with the additional incorporation of issues of social context. Adolescents (N = 211) from three school-based samples completed self-report questionnaires. One-third of students reported at least one incident of purposeful, non-suicidal self-mutilation and 16% had engaged in self-mutilation repeatedly within the past 6 months. Both regression and group analyses indicated that adolescents who engage in RSM report greater psychological distress, a greater incidence of functionally equivalent behaviors, and greater exposure to self-mutilation among peers and/or in the media, when compared to their counterparts who have not engaged in RSM. Suicidal ideation/behaviors were consistently the strongest predictors of current self-mutilation behaviors. Clinical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In recent years there has been an expanse in the literature that is drawing attention to selfinjury and research studies indicate that self-injurious behaviour is prevalent in the age group of thirteen to fifteen years. Although it remains unclear, whether the increased focus on self-injury is due to a greater amount of adolescents who engage in self-injury, or whether it is due to more young people identifying themselves as self-injurers, it has now become an integral component of adolescent behaviour that teachers, parents and other significant role players have to be knowledgeable about, as the likelihood that they will encounter self-injury amongst a young adolescent population is on the increase. As research studies in this arena have been mostly of a quantitative nature and have focused predominately on psychiatric populations, there was a gap in the research to contribute to the limited qualitatively generated knowledge base on self-injury. In this study, a narrative inquiry design was used to make sense of the stories of self-injury that the participants told. Four adolescent girls between the ages of fourteen and seventeen years with no history of mental illness and who were not receiving psychiatric or psychological intervention or showed significant levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms, were selected for the study. Two interviews were conducted with each girl using the fish bowl game and the memory box making to explore their stories of self-injury. The findings of this study suggest that cutting behaviour has purpose in the lives of the girls who participated in this study. Apart from having meaning in their lives, cutting behaviour also served to fulfill various functions, depending on the kind of problem and feelings that would be experienced in that moment. These functions ranged from providing relief, to being a form of punishment, to being a temptation, to becoming a comforting habit and a way to feel alive again. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Oor die afgelope paar jaar is daar ‘n toename in die literatuur wat handel oor selfbesering en navorsingstudies dui daarop dat die voorkoms van selfbeserende gedrag veral ‘n faktor is in die ouderdomsgroep tussen dertien en vyftien jaar. Dit is egter steeds onbekend of die toenemende fokus op selfbeserende gedrag toegeskryf kan word aan ‘n toename in die voorkoms van selfbesering en of dit eerder toegeskryf kan word aan meer jong mense wat hulself identifiseer as selfbeseerders. Hoe dit ookal sy, selfbesering is tans 'n integrale komponent van adolessente gedrag en om hierdie rede is dit 'n noodsaaklikheid dat onderwysers, ouers en ander belanghebbende rolspelers kennis moet dra daaroor omdat die waarskynlikheid dat hulle sulke gedrag sal teëkom, onder 'n jong adolessente populasie, aan die toeneem is. Aangesien navorsingstudies binne hierdie veld hoofsaaklik kwantitatief van aard is, is daar 'n leemte m.b.t. navorsing wat kan bydra tot die klein hoeveelheid kwalitatiewe studies wat wel al gedoen is. In hierdie studie, is 'n narratieweondersoekontwerp gekies omdat die studie wou sin maak van die stories van selfbesering wat die deelnemers vertel het. Vier adolessente meisies tussen die ouderdom van veertien en sewentien jaar het aan die studie deelgeneem wat geen geskiedenis van geestessiekte gehad het nie en ook nie ten tyde van die ondersoek psigiatriese of sielkundige intervensie ontvang het nie. Die deelnemers moes verder ook geen betekenisvolle hoë vlakke van angs of depressie getoon het nie. Twee onderhoude is met elke deelnemer gevoer waartydens die Visbak speletjie (Fish Bowl game) en 'n Herrinneringdosie (Memory Box) gebruik is om die meisies se stories van selfbesering te ontgin. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie stel voor dat snygedrag 'n besliste funksie in die lewens van die deelnemers gehad het. Buiten die feit dat snygedrag vir hulle betekenisvol was, het snygedrag ook verskeie funksies vervul wat hoofsaaklik afgehang het van die tipe probleem en die emosies wat daarmee gepaard gegaan het. Snyfunksies het gewissel van 'n manier om verligting te kry, 'n manier om die self te straf, 'n vertroostende gewoonte en 'n manier om weer iets te kan voel.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--St. Mary's University, San Antonio, Texas, 2007. / "December 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-170) and appendices.