Republic of the Philippines

Region I
SDO 1 Pangasinan I
LYCEUM NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Dagupan City, Pangasinan
Graduate Studies in Education

LET’S TALK: SELF-HARM AMONG

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

In partial requirement
for
DIVERSITY OF LEARNERS WITH ACTION RESEARCH

Submitted to:

LINDA P. TELLO, Ed.D

Submitted by:

GABRIELA N. FERNANDEZ

July 23, 2020

I. PROPONENT

NAME: FERNANDEZ, Gabriela N.

ADDRESS: #37 Bliss, Baraoas Sur, Naguilian, La Union

NAME of SCHOOL: Naguilian National High School

II. SITUATION

Eric Thomas once stated that if there is no enemy within, the enemy outside

can do us no harm. This is why one’s happiness should not come from other people

but it should come within. Davis (2019) indicated that well-being is the experience of

health, happiness, and prosperity. It includes having good mental health, high life

satisfaction and a sense of meaning or purpose.

Unfortunately, some people struggle to develop their well-beings. Richardson

et al., (2006) stated that school, family, partners in peers and distress are the four of

the common problems why some people struggle developing their well-beings.

Problems in school like bullying, difficulty in making friends, and failing grades;

problems in the family like lack of parent’s attention, lack of communication to each

other and financial problems; problems with their partners like lack of communication

and attention, sexual problems, and other problems such as dishonesty and cheating;

and lastly, distress which is an extreme anxiety or pain which leads to poor behaviors.

Therefore, friends, families and partners in peers have a major impact on one’s

health and well-being, but it’s not always easy to build or maintain relationships.

Good friends are good for one’s health. Friends can help celebrate good times and

provide support during bad times (Mayo Clinic, 2019). As for the families, for better

and for worse, they should play a central role in shaping individual’s well-being
across the life course (Merz, et al. 2019). While partners in peers should provide love,

peace, time and enjoyment that is why they play a key role in someone’s well-being.

In short, these people should support an individual whether they are in their darkest

days or not. Thus if they failed to support them, it may lead to a conflict. An

individual with little support and less than favorable psychological well-being were

found to be more likely to engage in negative activities such as alcohol use, sedentary

behavior, too little or too much sleep or worse non suicidal self-injury or self-harm.

III. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

With this background in mind, this study aimed to diagnose the situation of the

senior high school students of Naguilian National High School Senior High School

who tried to harm themselves. Specifically, it aimed to answer the following

questions: What are the root causes of self-harm, what are the aftermaths of self-harm,

and what are the ways on how to prevent self-harm among teenagers?

The focus of this study was to diagnose the well-being of the senior high

school students of NNHS Senior High School who tried to harm themselves. The

aspects looked into the root causes of self-harm, its aftermath, and the feeling self-

harm.

IV. PLAN FOR ACTION

A. METHOD

This study is a Qualitative Research that aimed to understand and interpret

social interaction. According to Kemparaj U, et al. (2013), a Qualitative research

referred to a range of methodological approaches which aimed to generate an in-depth

and interpreted understanding of the social world, by learning about people's social

and material circumstances, their experiences, perspectives, and histories.

Diagnostic research design was used to evaluate the causes of self-harm. It

aimed to identify the causes of the problems and the possible solutions and the

researcher used it to evaluate the underlying cause of a specific topic or phenomenon.

This method helped the researchers to learn more about the factors that create

troublesome situations. According to a study from Masinde Muliro University of

Science and Technology (2015), diagnostic research study was used to determine the

frequency with which something occurred or its association with something else.

B. INSTRUMENT

In this research, Case study was used in making this research. According to

Stephanie (2015), case studies are in-depth studies of a phenomenon, like a person,

group, or situation. The researcher made use of the purposive sampling process in

which researcher relies on his or her own judgment when choosing members of

population to participate in the study. The researchers were the primary instrument

and a semi-structured interview guide was used in this study. Consequently, the

specific method of data collection involved conducting a face to face interview in

which the respondents answered open-ended questions. A face to face interview is

often used to gather information in studies that can be very sensitive such as self-

harming (Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods, 2008). The purpose of

conducting a personal interview explored the responses of the respondents to gather

more and deeper information based on their own experiences. Thus, interviewing was
one of the common and most powerful way to use in understanding our fellow human

beings.

C. STATISTICAL TOOL

The objective is to put it together in an orderly manner and arrange it in

categories and themes. This study was used a process of inductive analysis, a

qualitative method of content analysis that researchers use to develop theory and

identify themes by studying documents, recordings and other printed and verbal

material.

D. TIME FRAME

V.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Enduring life's hardships at an early age were tough. Based on the respondents'

own experiences, the researcher had analyzed that the most common factor why the

students harmed themselves were mainly because of their family, school, and friends.

The situation around their surroundings had made an impact on their lives and their
well-being that caused them to harm themselves frequently. The students had gone

through a lot of difficulties to the point that some attempted to take their own lives.

Thus, the respondents couldn't take the emotional pain that they had undergone and

harmed themselves to ease their emotional pains.

There is no doubt that self-harming is now one of the most common ways in

coping with difficulties. The researcher highly recommend that in order to solve this

issue as early as possible, the families especially the parents should evaluate their

children if they were already having a hard time. Families and friends should show

their support, love and care towards the person. Everyone who wanted to help a

person who is suffering should be willing to listen and let him or her feel that

someone got his or her back and someone is always there to help. If a person is

struggling and having a hard time, he or she should try to stay positive or seek help

from the professional to avoid self-harm. Schools should also provide general

education about self-injury for school staff, faculty, and students to have more

knowledge about this issue. Students who are easily triggered and at risk for self-harm

should not be included in this education session. The session includes how to identify

the signs and symptoms of self-harm, recognize the difference between self-harm and

suicidal behavior, and to be aware of the conditions under which self-harm requires

immediate attention. Moreover, if a person is already injuring himself or herself

severely and repeatedly, it would be better for the families to admit their children to a

hospital for psychiatric care for them to be provided a safer place and get more

serious treatment.