Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Family Medicine

Background: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a wide spread health problem among the adolescents. It is an important issue of many studies in the last decades. It is reported as a strong risk factor of future suicide. There are very limited studies which studied NSSI in the Arab world specially in Egypt. Aim of the study: To study NSSI among a community sample of Egyptian adolescents; its prevalence, characteristics and risk factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 800 students, aged "11-19" years, from preparatory and secondary schools in Elbasateen district, Egypt. Data were collected by a personal data sheet and Arabic forms of The socioeconomic status Scale Questionnaire, the adolescent Health questionnaire and the functional assessment of self-mutilation (FASM) questionnaire. Results: Revealed that 26.5% of the participants were engaged in NSSI in the last year. The age of onset to start doing self-harm was reported at age of 14 years, and the females showed the majority to be engaged in NSSI with a percent of (75.9%). Discussion: NSSI is common among the Egyptian adolescents with high prevalence rate (26.5%) which is within the global ranges (between 17% and 60%) but it is higher than that in many other Arabic and Islamic countries

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