Sjuksköterskors attityder till personer med självskadebeteende : Förståelse möjliggör empati

Sammanfattning: Background: Studies have shown that self-injurious behaviour is common, specially among young people. Thousands of people in Sweden seek emergency medical services as a consequence to self-injurious behaviour every year. The estimated number of unknown cases is expected to be high due to the fact that a lot of people never seek any help for this. It is included in the nurses’ profession to treat people with humanistic values and to have respect for the patients’ autonomy, integrity and dignity. Since patients with self-injurious behaviour experience that they are being treated in an undesirable manner by health care staff and that studies have shown that negative attitudes among health care staff leads to a deteriorated care there is a need of mapping nurses’ attitudes. Aim: To describe nurses’ attitudes to people with self-injurious behaviour. Method: A litterature review containing ten scientific articles analyzed with descriptive synthesis. Conclusion: Nurses experience a lot of negative emotions in the care of people with self- injurious behaviour whilst they also feel that they don’t understand the motives for self-harm. Implications: Self-injurious behaviour should be noted in the general nursing program due to the amount of negative feelings expressed among nurses and because studied have shown that the care is failing in treating them in a desirable manner.