Research

The following are areas of research interest;

Epidemiology and trends in self-harm

• Rates and trends in self-harm and socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of self-harm patients:
• adults 
• children and adolescents
• older people

• Alcohol and drug misuse and self-harm
• Characteristics of frequent repeaters of self-harm

Clinical management of self-harm

• Determinants of type of hospital management following self-harm, and the relationship between management and outcome
• Validation of a novel assessment tool (OxSATS)  to estimate suicide risk following a self-harm episode

Outcome of self-harm, including repetition and mortality

• Risk of suicide following self-harm in gender and age subgroups, and changes over time
• Risk of death from all causes
  
• Mortality following self-harm in

• children and adolescents
• older people
• people who misuse alcohol and drugs
• people in current psychiatric contact
• different ethnic groups
• Change in use of different methods of self-harm between episodes and relationship to outcome

Analgesics

• Impact on self-harm of MHRA decision to withdraw co-proxamol
• Comparison of size of overdoses of paracetamol in England and Ireland in relation to differing pack sizes

Antidepressants

• Relationship between use of specific antidepressants in self-poisoning and prescribing rates