Nu har hon skurit sig igen, ni måste komma hit! - en studie av hur socionomer inom kommunal socialtjänst konstruerar fenomenet självskadebeteende bland tonårsflickor som skär eller rispar sig

Abstract: The aim was to study how social workers were constructing self harm among teenage girls. This social constructionist study was based upon five qualitative interviews with social workers employed by in total four different communities. A perspective of problem (Jönsson, 2008) was chosen as model for analysis. Self harm was constructed as heterogeneous in its character. I found three entries in their way of talking about self harm: the psychiatric oriented, the family- and relation-oriented, and the culturally and sub culturally oriented cutting. Terms of individual psychology such as anxiety, low self-esteem and negative self image were used as basic in their construction, making those girls more vulnerable than others to choose or end up in self harm. The reasons to anxiety and low self-esteem were characterized by heterogeneity, but family-factors and relations became the most referred and developed in the construction. The beginning process of cutting was constructed as a process of learning by terms like ”mates”, ”Internet”, ”books”, and “testing”. Once established, cutting was seen with different functions for the girl, and as a kind of abuse with risks for her psychosocial development. A difference was observed according to the expected results of the respondents work.