•  
  •  

Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 31 > No. 9 (2026)

 

Abstract

Through previous research, attention has been drawn to the burden experienced by next of kin to someone struggling with self-harm, yet less attention has been given to how they experience and make sense of the relational and existential complexity of this role in their everyday lives. We asked how next of kin experienced and made sense of caring for a loved one who self-harmed. We conducted in-depth interviews with fourteen next of kin, including parents, partners, and siblings, and analyzed the data through reflexive thematic analysis within an interpretive qualitative framework. Our analysis generated an overarching theme, "It Feels Like Your Life Hinges on Me," supported by three themes: "I Keep Trying to Reach You," concerning efforts to maintain connection; "I Am Constantly Vigilant," concerning uncertainty and fear; and "An Act of Balancing," concerning competing needs and family dynamics. Together, these themes conveyed a profound sense of responsibility in which participants' own well-being felt inseparable from that of their loved one.

Keywords

next of kin, self-harm, caregiving, lived experience advisors, relational ethics, reflexive thematic analysis

Author Bio(s)

Kenneth Haugjord is a psychologist specialised in community psychology and a PhD candidate at the Department of Psychosocial Health, University of Agder, Norway. He is employed by Sørlandet Hospital Trust as a Ph.D. candidate. He has experience with mental health service development and a particular interest in user involvement, recovery processes, and the relational dimensions of mental health. Please direct correspondence to [email protected]

John-Kåre Vederhus is senior researcher at the Addiction Unit, Sørlandet Hospital Trust, and Professor II at the University of Agder, Norway. His research portfolio in addiction medicine and public health is extensive, encompassing topics such as user resources (e.g., self-help groups), substance use and mental health outcomes, adverse childhood experiences, and quality of life.

Kristine Dahl is a Ph.D. and a clinical psychologist at District Psychiatric Center Østre Agder, Sørlandet Hospital Trust, Norway. She is a certified schema therapist and the leader of a group therapy unit offering schema therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy for persons diagnosed with a personality disorder. She is a qualitative researcher with a particular interest in the subjective experience of people diagnosed with personality disorders and related areas.

Tore Dag Bøe is a professor in the Department of Psychosocial Health at the University of Agder, Norway, and a social worker with a PhD in Mental Health Care. His writing and research, including books and various publications, address the ethical and social aspects of mental health care and how practice can facilitate change operating in the social-relational domain.

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Sørlandet Sykehus and conducted as part of the Ph.D. program at the University of Agder, Department of Psychosocial Health. We sincerely thank the participants for generously sharing their time, stories, and experiences. We also express our gratitude to the reference group of persons with lived experience for their invaluable contributions throughout the research process.

Publication Date

10-25-2026

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

ORCID ID

0009-0008-1366-4099

ResearcherID

NSV-0944-2025

Download

Share

 
COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.