Concerns regarding self-harm among asylum seekers in Australian immigration detention have been frequently and persistently raised by academics, health professionals, human rights organisations and refugee advocates, among... [ view full abstract ]
Concerns regarding self-harm among asylum seekers in Australian immigration detention have been frequently and persistently raised by academics, health professionals, human rights organisations and refugee advocates, among others, over the past two decades. Despite these concerns, however, little systematic information exists regarding the incidence and nature of self-harm, as well as precipitating factors for self-harm among the immigration detention population. This is largely due to the lack of monitoring processes by successive government departments responsible for asylum seeker policy. As asylum seekers carry many of the established risk factors for self-harm, and self-harm is strongly associated with suicide, the ongoing lack of monitoring of self-harm in Australian immigration detention clearly may have serious implications for the health of detained asylum seekers. The aim of the present study, therefore, is to fill several gaps in government monitoring, and consequently in the literature, regarding key factors associated with self-harm among asylum seekers in Australian immigration detention. Via a retrospective analysis of self-harm incident reports from a 12-month period to July 2015, obtained under Freedom of Information, the current study will examine the incidence of self-harm, precipitating factors for, and methods of, self-harm, and whether these factors vary by detention type (on-shore, off-shore or community detention). The implications of these findings for the health of asylum seekers, as well as broader self-harm prevention strategies, will also be discussed.
