ABSTRACT

Despite significant impacts to mental health and support-seeking, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) stigma remains under-studied and poorly understood. Recently, the NSSI Stigma Framework was proposed, conceptualizing NSSI stigma as comprising six constructs (origin, concealability, course, peril, aesthetics, disruptiveness) that manifest across four perspectives (public, self, anticipated, enacted). The present study investigated the extent to which this framework can account for individuals’ NSSI stigma experiences using a directed content analysis. Written responses from 99 university undergraduates (M^age = 21.5, SD = 3.7; 83.8% female) generated 731 data units for analysis, of which 299 (40.9%) were coded. Results demonstrated support for the public and enacted perspectives, with participants describing stigma experiences within friendships, families, schools, and workplaces. Data pointed to both direct and indirect experiences of public stigma, suggesting a more nuanced understanding of this perspective is required. While there was sufficient support for a majority of elements, more work is needed to verify the applicability of the self and anticipated perspectives. Our findings contribute to a growing body of research investigating NSSI stigma, and provide preliminary support for the utility of the NSSI Stigma Framework in identifying multiple facets of NSSI stigma. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.

摘要

尽管对心理健康和寻求支持有重大影响，但非自杀性自伤 (NSSI) 耻辱感仍未得到充分研究和了解。最近，提出了 NSSI 耻辱框架，将 NSSI 耻辱概念化为包括六个结构（起源、隐蔽性、过程、危险、美学、破坏性），这些结构在四个方面（公众、自我、预期、制定）表现出来。本研究使用定向内容分析调查了该框架在多大程度上可以解释个人的 NSSI 污名化经历。来自 99 名大学本科生的书面回答（M^年龄 =  21.5，SD = 3.7; 83.8% 的女性）生成了 731 个数据单元进行分析，其中 299 个（40.9%）被编码。结果显示了对公众和制定观点的支持，参与者描述了友谊、家庭、学校和工作场所中的耻辱经历。数据指出了公众耻辱的直接和间接经历，表明需要对这种观点有更细致的理解。虽然对大多数要素有足够的支持，但需要做更多的工作来验证自我和预期观点的适用性。我们的发现有助于越来越多的研究调查 NSSI 污名，并为 NSSI 污名框架在识别 NSSI 污名的多个方面的效用提供初步支持。讨论了干预和未来研究的意义。