The roles of anxiety and depression in self-injurious behaviour

Explanatory Statement

This project is being undertaken by Alison Telford, as a requirement of the Master in Psychology (Health) degree at the Monash University of Victoria. The project concerns the roles of anxiety and depression in self-injurious behaviour.  This is a relatively new field of research, and the results will help in the future design of services for people who engage in self-injury.  Your participation in this study therefore would be valued.  You are free, of course, to decline to take part in the study or to withdraw from it at any time but we hope you will be willing to complete the questionnaires.

We are seeking people over the age of 18 years who are currently or have in the past engaged in deliberate self-injury. The study consists of three separate questionnaires.  The first one asks for background characteristics, including your age and the form and frequency of self-injurious behaviour you may engage in.  No other identifying details are included, so your responses will remain anonymous. The second questionnaire is about your experiences of anxiety, depression and stress symptoms.  The third questionnaire assesses reasons you have for not committing suicide.

Your answers to each of these questionnaires will remain completely anonymous, so please respond to them as frankly as you can.  In each questionnaire, spend only a little time on each item, responding as spontaneously and openly as you can.  The set of questionnaires should take about 20 minutes to complete.

If you decide to participate, please print and keep this information sheet for your future reference and then complete each questionnaire in turn.  Your return of the completed questionnaires will be taken as your informed consent to participate in the project.

It is possible you may experience some distress while completing the questionnaire. If this occurs, feel free to stop filling in the questionnaire. You will the option of stopping it at the bottom of each page. Alternatively you may simply close your browser. We have included an Information Pack with this questionnaire, providing details about how to deal with stress, and some useful contact details for services you may find helpful. The Information Pack is available here or at the end of the questionnaire. If you choose to stop filling in the questionnaire this link will also appear so you can download the pack.

Please note that the questions in this survey contain potentially triggering material. Please keep yourself safe when completing the survey. If you feel any distress during or after this questionnaire, we suggest you contact one of the following services:

EMERGENCY SERVICES (to be used only in case of emergency): 000
Lifeline: www.lifeline.org.au  Ph: 13 11 14
Beyond Blue: www.beyondblue.org.au
NATIONAL SELF-HARM NETWORK: www.nshn.co.uk
SELF-INJURY AND RELATED ISSUES (SIARI): www.siari.co.uk

Thank you very much for your participation in this project.  If you have any queries or would like to be informed of the research findings please contact my supervisor, Dr Penelope Hasking on 03 9903 1148 or email Penelope.Hasking@med.monash.edu.au.  In addition to appearing in the Masters thesis, results from this project may be published in journals or presented at conferences, but only aggregate data will be presented – you will not be identified in any way. Data will be stored at Monash University for a period of 5 years, in accordance with University policy.

It is expected that the project will be completed by December 2007.  If you would like general information about the outcome of the project, please contact Dr Penelope Hasking at the Monash University after that date. A summary of results will also be posted on this website at the end of 2007.

Thank you

Alison Telford & Penelope Hasking