Previous research indicates the importance of good treatment in the care of the self-harming persons. Self-harming is today not classified as its own diagnosis which problematizes the understanding of the behavior. It emerged in earlier research that self-harming persons may experience dissatisfaction with the care given to them by healthcare professionals.

This study aimed to describe healthcare professionals' experience of meeting persons who self-harm in adult psychiatric inpatient care.

This study used a qualitative method to go about this by interviewing six healthcare professionals working in an in-patient unit. Data was gathered using unstructured interviews that allowed for further questions when interesting themes arose. The method of analysis of the data was manifest content analysis which showed 2 main categories, each with 3 subcategories.

The first category that emerged was, Understanding with subcategories, Dangerous behavior, Self-harm as a tool and The narrative meaning. The other category that emerged was Too care for better or worse, with subcategories, Caring and treatment, Frustrating caring and Different approaches by staff.

The results showed that the nursing staffs understanding of self harm were mostly consistent with current research's understanding of self harm. The results also showed that healthcare professionals understood the importance of good treatment in the care of the self-harming persons. The result showed, however, that the treatment and care of the self-harming persons were made complicated by factors such as frustration among healthcare professionals and the different approaches to rules and structure in the healthcare context.