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NICE Underpinning Review
Harm minimisation strategies can be used to prevent or minimise the severity of physical harm caused to a person during and after an episode of self-harm, which can reduce the incidence of more serious injuries and fatal self-harm. Harm minimisation is also sometimes used to refer to strategies that are seen as alternatives to self-harm, such as substituting for other behaviours, coping strategies, or distraction techniques. People who repeatedly selfharm without suicidal intent may find these strategies useful to reduce rates of repeat selfharm. However, in existing practice, self-harm prevention is usually seen as the highest priority when providing care for people who have self-harmed, whereas providing information about harm minimisation strategies to people who have self-harmed might not promote this overall goal if they can be seen as an acceptance that repeat self-harm is inevitable. Additionally, people self-harm for different reasons and using different methods, for which some harm minimisation strategies might not be possible or appropriate. As a result, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of harm minimisation strategies for people who have self-harmed in order to assess whether the benefits of implementing harm minimisation strategies outweigh the potential risks.
The evidence from this review supports recommendation 1.11.11 to 1.11.13 Harm minimisation under recommendation 1.11 Interventions for self-harm - NG225
The following recommendation for research is also based on this evidence review: 5. What is the experience, feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of harm minimisation strategies for people who self-harm?