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I Hear, I Listen and I Care: A Qualitative Investigation into the Function of a Self‐Harm Message Board
Author(s) -
Rodham Karen,
Gavin Jeff,
Miles Meriel
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1521/suli.2007.37.4.422
Subject(s) - harm , function (biology) , psychology , qualitative research , communication , social psychology , sociology , biology , genetics , social science
This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative inquiry into the interactions on a nonprofessional self‐harm message board. Individuals using the message board were very positive about the message board and appeared to feel that their needs for support, venting, and validation were being met. However, we found that negative harmful behaviors mentioned in messages posted on the board were either not acknowledged, or were legitimized and normalized by those who responded to the messages. We suggest that this process of minimizing the seriousness and/or normalizing the behaviors may actually be encouraging the maintenance of such behaviors and therefore conclude that caution should be exercised when using nonprofessional self‐harm message boards.