It took eight years and multiple episodes of harm before he was taken into care, where he disclosed experiences of sexual abuse to police.
Episodes of harm to self, harm to others and episodes of seclusion whilst an in-patient were collated.
Episodes of harm to others did not predict length of stay, log-rank Mantel-Cox X = 2.073, df = 4, p = 0.150.
They also calculated that treatment of 13 patients would lead to one episode of harm, in this instance severe hypoglycaemia (defined as < 2.2 mmol/l).
Associations were particularly strong for future episodes of self harm (non-suicidal self harm odds ratio 4.60, 95% confidence interval 3.23 to 6.54 and suicidal self harm 12.6, 8.91 to 17.8).
However, whereas Moran et al found that 9 out of 10 adolescents who self harmed reported no further episodes of self harm in adulthood, we found strong evidence for a high level of continuity in self harm between age 16 and 21 years.
When referrals were made to the SPACE programme, referrers were asked to detail the type of self harm that the young person engaged in as well as whether the young person had engaged in previous episodes of self harm.
It continued: "as time in detention continues to increase, it is likely that a corresponding increase will be experienced more broadly across the IDN [immigration detention network]" The prime minister, Tony Abbott, described the episodes of self harm on Christmas Island as attempts to hold the government over a moral barrel", comments that have drawn widespread criticism.
Concurrent validity of the SHQ was evaluated by comparing the SHQ results with recorded self harm in the entire clinical records, while the predictive value of the SHQ was assessed by reviewing the clinical records for further episodes of self harm after three months.
At three months follow up there was no statistically significant difference in either sensitivity.95, 95% CI [.72, 1.0] vs..74, 95% CI [.49,.90] or specificity.35, 95% CI [.25,.46] vs..51, 95% CI [.39,.62] between the SHQ and the entire clinical record in predicting future episodes of self harm.
Main outcome measures Primary outcome was frequency of subsequent repeated episodes of self harm.
