Nursing staff knowledge and attitudes towards deliberate self-harm in adults and adolescents in an inpatient setting.

Background: This paper investigates the relationship between care staff perceptions' of self-harm behaviours presented by adult and adolescent inpatients and the emotional responses and helping behaviours of the staff.

Method: Seventy-six nursing staff participated, including qualified and unqualified staff, who worked in either adolescent or adult secure inpatient settings within a single organization. Participants completed vignette, knowledge, and attitudes questionnaires, related to working with patients who display deliberate self-harm.

Clozapine treatment of adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder and psychotic symptoms.

This study investigates the efficacy of clozapine in treatment-resistant abused adolescents detained in a secure environment who present with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder and psychotic symptoms. All participants had received at least 2 trials of conventional neuroleptic medication prior to starting clozapine. Efficacy was assessed by using single case methodology across 6 participants employing predependent and postdependent measures of psychiatric symptoms and behavioral observations.