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Collaborators

Samantha Groves

BSc(Hons) MSc

DPhil Student

Ongoing Project: Suicidal Thoughts and Self-Harm among Nursing Professionals

International evidence has shown that nurses are an occupational group at increased risk of suicide. This includes evidence from England. Since 2021, our research team have published a series of studies surrounding suicide and self-harm among nursing professionals and nursing students (see publications pane). This includes two systematic reviews, a descriptive study of self-harm among nurses, and an interview study.

I am undertaking research for a DPhil (equivalent to a PhD) in Psychiatry which aims to further improve our understanding of suicidal thoughts and self-harm among nursing professionals and nursing students in England. We aim to use findings to inform the development of future preventive interventions to help nurses and nursing students with personal, emotional and work-related problems, including those that might increase risk of self-harm and/or suicide.

The DPhil comprises three main studies: 

  1. Surveys with a) nursing students, and b) qualified nurses examining factors associated with suicidal thoughts and self-harm.
  2. Focus groups exploring the perspectives of university staff who are involved in supporting student nurses experiencing suicidal thoughts or self-harm.
  3. Interviews with student, qualified, and former nurses with lived experience of suicidal thoughts and self-harm. 

As part of this work, we have set up a coproduction group with nursing professionals with relevant lived experience (suicidal thoughts or self-harm). We will be working with this group to develop ideas for the studies, as well as ways to share our findings.

If you are interested in finding out more about these studies or the coproduction group, please contact the research team at nurse-study@psych.ox.ac.uk

Upon completion of each study, key findings will be shared here.

Biography

I am a DPhil student in the Department of Psychiatry in the Centre for Suicide Research, supervised by Professor Keith Hawton, Dr Karen Lascelles, and Dr Anne Stewart. 

I have a MSc in Clinical and Health Psychology, and a BSc(Hons) in Psychology. Prior to starting the DPhil I worked as a research assistant at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust on projects related to suicide among nurses, alongside the impact of working with self-harm among inpatient mental health staff. Before this, I worked on projects at The University of Manchester related to cancer prevention. 

My DPhil research is funded by the Oxford-Hoffmann Scholarship in Medical Sciences.