The Self-Harm Scale: monitoring self-injurious behaviour

People often display self-injurious behaviour over an extended period of time. If this behaviour is recurrent, it is important to identify any underlying triggers that precede these behaviours. For example, what time of day does self-injurious behaviour tend to occur? What circumstances appear to trigger self-injurious behaviour? Collecting this information can help to apply targeted interventions.

The Self-Harm Scale helps support staff and therapists to monitor the occurrence of self-injurious behaviour of people with intellectual disabilities. The scale consists of a form that support staff complete each time an individual engages in self-injurious behaviour. This enables support staff to take targeted action to reduce the individual’s self-injurious behaviour. The Self-Harm Scale also helps therapists to assess the effectiveness of interventions.

Research conducted at the AWVB demonstrates that the Self-Harm Scale can be a valuable tool for understanding the self-injurious behaviour of people with intellectual disabilities. Through systematic use of the Self-Harm Scale, healthcare professionals can identify triggers, environmental characteristics, and consequences of self-injurious behaviour. Therefore, the Self-Harm Scale can improve the safety and care for people with intellectual disabilities.

In de VerbanXdoos zitten kaarten met achtergrondinformatie en praktische aanpak in stappen, allen gebaseerd op wetenschappelijk onderzoek. Ook bevat de toolkit informatie over oorzaken van zelfbeschadigend gedrag. Je kunt de VerbanXdoos samen met je team gebruiken. Door de doos systematisch in te zetten, krijg je zicht op triggers, omgevingskenmerken en gevolgen van zelfbeschadiging. Zo draagt de VerbanXdoos bij aan betere zorg voor mensen met een verstandelijke beperking.

De VerbanXdoos is kosteloos op te vragen bij de AWVB.