The COPING feasibility study

The CO-produced Psychosocial INtervention delivered by GPs for young people who self-harm

Updated 14 August 2024

Self-harm, defined as intentional self-injury or poisoning regardless of intention, in young people is an international health concern. The numbers of young people presenting to general practitioners (GPs) after self-harm is increasing. Evidence shows that currently there are no effective treatments for GPs to use with young people who have harmed themselves and this impacts on GPs' confidence of managing these patients. To address this, we have developed the COPING (CO-produced Psychosocial INtervention delivered by GPs to young people after self-harm) treatment in partnership with young people aged 16-25 with experience of self-harm and GPs. The COPING treatment is a new coproduced treatment for GPs to use with young people aged 16-25 years to help them avoid future self-harm. The COPING treatment is to be delivered by GPs across two ten-minute GP appointments, and is a talking treatment targeting psychosocial factors in the young person. In this study, we aim to deliver COPING to all participants across GP practices in the West Midlands, to tell us if a clinical trial of COPING is doable in the NHS, and to help us inform a future larger study.