Commissioned Call

David Hunt -

Project Title: Building Bridges: A Realist Synthesis to Understand the Needs of Men at Risk of Suicide

Brief Summary: To Follow

Start / end dates: 1 January 2024 - 1 July 2025

Contact email: 

Magdalena Mikulak - Lancaster University

Project Title: Suicide, self-harm and people with learning disabilities: a scoping study

Brief Summary: 

People with learning disabilities have poorer mental health than their non-disabled peers. People with learning disabilities, like other people, can self-harm, think about suicide, try to end their lives, and die by suicide. We know little about the experiences of adults with learning disabilities who think about suicide or try to end their lives and how best to support them in these situations.

We have some evidence about self-harm and people with learning disabilities, but this is complicated by the use of different words and phrases. For example, self-harm in people with learning disabilities is sometimes called ‘self-injurious behaviour’. Sometimes self-harm is also understood as part of having a learning disability. When people with learning disabilities self-harm, others can understand their experiences as ‘challenging behaviour’. This can have an impact on what support people with learning disabilities receive.

This research will review existing evidence about people with learning disabilities and self-harm and suicide. It will also help to clarify what we currently know about support for people with learning disabilities who self-harm and about suicide prevention for this group. We will also review how research on suicide and self-harm in adults with learning disabilities has been done.

Start / end dates: 01 January 2025 - 28 February 2026

Contact email: m.mikulak@lancaster.ac.uk