Why%20do%20this%20research?

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Hidden Communities Finding Help For Self-Injury
On-line
Claire Tyrwhitt-Drake, Department of Psychology,
University of Alberta

• Results
• Stigma
• 95 of participants reported hiding their
  behaviour
• 81 of participants reported hiding their scars
• Participants described their opinion on self
  injury as being significantly different from
  others (plt0.05)

Why do this research? Over recent years there has
been a proliferation of on-line self-help groups,
yet there have been few studies looking at what
these groups do and if they are effective. The
main presumption is that these groups function as
a source of social support, particularly when no
other support is available. Research also
suggests that people who have problems that are
highly stigmatized will be more likely to use
on-line self-help. There have also been
questions raised around possible safety issues
with unregulated, unprofessionally monitored
self-help groups. This research will attempt to
look at these issues within the context of a
highly stigmatized issue self-injury (the
intentional harming of ones own body).

• Safety
• 83 of participants gave a better than neutral
  rating of perceived safety on the sites
• Feelings of safety were correlated with how long
  the person had been coming to the sites
• 45 of participants indicated they felt
  comfortable posting identifying information on
  the sites

• Conclusions Further Research
• We found evidence for self-injury being a highly
  stigmatized problem and evidence for high usage
  of the sites.
• Participants indicated a lower than average level
  of off-line social support and that they valued
  the sites as an important provider of social
  support, suggesting that there sites could be
  important sources of social support for those
  deprived of it else where.
• Participants reported high levels of perceived
  safety on the sites.
• Overall, these sites seem to be a highly valued
  resource to those struggling with a stigmatized
  problem and lacking in social support off-line.
• Given the high usage reported amongst
  participants and that some participants report
  being addicted it would be good if future
  research addressed the issue of possible on-line
  self-help addiction

• Research Questions
• Is self-injury a highly stigmatized problem?
• Is on-line social support helpful and how is it
  linked to offline social support?
• Are on-line self-help groups for self-injury
  perceived to be safe?

• Social Support
• 93 of participants gave better than neutral
  rating to on-line social support and 81 agreed
  the sites was an important source of social
  support
• Participants had significantly lowers levels of
  off-line social support (mean 41.82) when
  compared to a standardized sample (mean 63.71),
  plt0.05.
• There was a relation between on-line and
  off-line social support (plt0.05)
• There was a relationship between SI status and
  social support, with those in recovery having
  more sources of social support (plt0.05)
• 55 of participants indicated they had sought
  offline help due to the sites

Method Participants 58 users of two on-line
self-help groups for self-injurers, who were
either current, recovering or recovered
self-injurers Procedure Volunteers were asked
to fill in an on-line questionnaire
Acknowledgments I would like to thank my
supervisor Dr. Connie Varnhagen and all of the
ITL lab for their invaluable help and
encouragement.