"Var finns det stöd?" - En kvalitativ studie om anhörigstöd vid ungdomars självskadebeteende

Sammanfattning: Abstract Authors: Tina Olofsson och Ida Linderoth. Title:”Where is the support?” A qualitative study of support services for families with youths suffering from self-harming behavior. Supervisor: Stig Linde Assessor: Carina Tigervall The aim of this study was to examine which type of support the families in our study expressed that they were in need of during the time their youths had a self-harming behavior. Based on the theory of social support we analyzed the experiences the families expressed about the social support services they received. In this study we presented different support services, where our intention was to see if these support services notices the needs that the families expressed. Qualitative interviews were conducted with four families of daughters with self-harming behavior, a support group and five professionals who work with the problem self-harming. The results in this study showed that the families were in need of support such as meeting with others in a similar situation, to get information about the problem and available support services and supportive calls during the time their daughter had a self-harming behavior. Some of the support services that were offered to the families were experienced to be helpful but the support services were offered to late. Other experiences of the support services were that the content was lacking and focused on the wrong things. The results also showed that the presented support services meets different needs that the relatives expressed but none of the support activities ensures all the needs. Keyword: Self-harm, relative, social support, support services, needs.