Qualitative Research Methods in Mental Health: Innovative and Collaborative Approaches

Description

This book examines innovative approaches to the use of qualitative methods in mental health research. It describes the development and use of methods of data collection and analysis designed. These methods address contemporary and interdisciplinary research questions, such as how to access the voices of vulnerable populations, understand the relationship between experience and discourse, and identify processes and patterns that characterize institutional practices. The book offers insight into projects that reflect various cultural contexts and geographical locations as well as involve diverse research teams, ranging in their methodology from individual case studies to community-based interventions. Chapters address how research method selection needs to be tailored to specific contexts within which studies are carried out and how synthesizing diverse perspectives of different disciplines – such as psychology, sociology, linguistics, history, and art – make a research endeavor more fruitful. The book offers a clear framework in which to assess the research presented in the book as well as map future directions for qualitative methodology in mental health research. Key areas of coverage include projects that describe research with: • Individuals confronted with critical life events. • Former psychiatric patients. • Individual and couple psychotherapy clients. • Clients in a forensic setting. • Persons affected by psychosis. • Dementia patients. • People living with cancer. • Health care professionals. Qualitative Research Methods in Mental Health is a valuable resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as therapists and other professionals in clinical and counseling psychology, psychotherapy, social work, and family therapy as well as all interrelated psychology and medical disciplines. Foreword Contents Editors and Contributors 1 Introduction: Qualitative Research in Mental Health—Innovation and Collaboration Introduction The Tradition of Qualitative Research in Mental Health (QRMH) Conferences The Transdisciplinary Field of Mental Health Mental Health as a Global Challenge Giving Voice—The Inside and Outside Power Issues and Ethical Considerations Accumulating Knowledge Understanding Systems on Different Levels and Feeding Knowledge Back The Book Structure References Part I Illustrating Innovation in Qualitative Mental Health Research 2 Psychiatrists’ Perceptions of Schizophrenia and Its Recovery: A Thematic Analysis Introduction The Complexity Involved in Capturing Schizophrenia Competing Viewpoints on the Recovery of Schizophrenia The Research Questions Methodology Epistemological Orientation The Research Design Thematic Analysis Findings and Discussion Perceptions of Schizophrenia Perceptions of Recovery Implications for Clinical Practice Limitations of the Study and Recommendations for Future Research Conclusion Appendix Appendix A: Revised Interview Guide References 3 Approaching Psychotherapy Case Studies in a Metasynthesis: Deficit vs. Conflict in Treatment of Medically Unexplained Symptoms Introduction Aggregative vs. Interpretative Approaches in Metasynthesis Choosing the Research Question: Process vs. Effectiveness Incorporating Theory-Building into the Research Question: The Concepts of Deficit and Conflict in Psychotherapeutic Treatment of Medically Unexplained Symptoms Method The Single Case Archive Purposive vs Exhaustive Sampling Strategy Intensity Sampling Maximum Variation Sampling Data Analysis: Critical Realism as Epistemological Position Data Analysis: Case Level as Primary Level of Analysis; Creating Process Themes Results Disconfirmatory Findings as Facilitators of Theory-Building: Deficit, Conflict and Trauma Discussion Appendix A: List of Selected Studies with Characteristics of Patients References 4 Walking Interviews: A Novel Way of Ensuring the Voices of Vulnerable Populations Are Included in Research Introduction Transitioning from Hospital to the Community The Walking Interview Go-Along Interview Bimbling Interview Participatory Walking Interview The Advantages of the Walking Interview The Research Project The Walking Interviews in Action Participant A Participant B Participant C Participant D Considerations When Completing Walking Interviews Conclusion References 5 Using Researcher Reflexivity and Multiple Methods to Study the Experience of Cancer-Related Distress Introduction The Experience of Being Positioned Within Dominant Cancer Discourses: An Autoethnographic Exploration Autoethnography Theme 1: ‘The Hard Work Involved in the Struggle for Meaning’ Theme 2: ‘Constructions of Death as Unacceptable’ Theme 3: ‘Constructions of Cancer as the Product of Risky Behaviour’ Theme 4: ‘Foregrounding the Biochemical Processes Associated with Cancer’ Mapping the Language of Cancer: An Analysis of Cancer Discourse Discourse Analysis Living-with-Dying: A Phenomenological Study of the Experience of Living with Advanced Cancer Hermeneutic Phenomenology Theme 1: The Challenge of Having to Engage with Death Awareness as Something That Cannot Be Sidestepped Theme 2: A Changed Relationship with Time Integrating the Results from Qualitative Studies of Patients’ Experience of Living with Terminal Cancer: A Metasynthesis Metasynthesis Conclusion References Part II Applying Qualitative Methods in Collaborative Research Projects 6 Listening for What Is Not Being Said: Using Discourse Analytic Approaches in Mental Health Research Introduction Accounting for the Not-Said Study One: Silencing Aspects of Experience in the Service of Constructing Professional Identity Analytic Procedure Results Discussion Study Two: Dominant Discourses and the Construction of a Mentally Disordered Identity Analytic Procedure Results Discussion Study Three: Sanitising Bodily Processes Analytic Procedure Results Discussion Conclusion: Power, Resistance and Potential for Action References 7 Re-claiming the Power of Definition—The Value of Reflexivity in Research on Mental Health at Risk Introduction: Mental Health ‘at Risk’—Challenging Definitions and Methodologies Being ‘at Risk’ in the Context of Dementia and Psychosis Making Sense of Risk—Risk Literacy and Meaning-Making in Mental Health Scientific Knowledge Production and Power Relations in Mental Health Researching Mental Health ‘at Risk’: Methodology and Method Sampling Strategy Data Collection Interview Procedures Reflexivity Analysis Results and Discussion Insights from the Interviews: Naming, Explaining, and Coping Methodological Reflection: Negotiating Vulnerability and Normality Conclusion: Methodologies in Support of Reclaiming Power Literature 8 Interpersonal Process Recall in Systemic Research: Investigating Couple Therapists’ Personal and Professional Selves Introduction Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) as a Qualitative Interview Approach The Role of the Interviewer Two Positions of the Interviewee: The Talking Subject and the Object of Talk The Dialogical Approach as Conceptual Framework for Researching Systemic Therapy Dialogical Approach in Psychotherapy Research Interpersonal Process Recall as a Storytelling Practice Using IPR/SRI to Analyse Couple Therapists’ Perspectives on Their Professional Practices Procedure Couple Therapy Research 1 The Scene from the Therapy Session: The Physical Arrangements in the Therapy Room Extract 1: Transcript IPR/SRI with Male Therapist Couple Therapy Research 2 The Scene from the Therapy Session: Making Comparisons Between Couples Extract 2: Transcript IPR/SRI with Male Co-therapist Discussion Limitations, Methodological Reflections and Conclusions References 9 Bringing Mental Health Back into the Dynamics of Social Coexistence: Emotional Textual Analysis Introduction Emotional Textual Analysis Theoretical Framework Operational Procedure A History of Integration Between Research and Intervention ETA to Inquire into the Meaning of Psychiatric Diagnosis in School ETA as an Intervention-Research Tool for the Development of Healthcare Organizations The Research Context and Design Two Studies Using ETA to Explore the Culture of Staff and Clients The Staff Culture The Clients’ Culture Conclusions References 10 Engraved in the Body: Ways of Reading Finnish People’s Memories of Mental Hospitals Introduction Saara Jäntti: Organizing the Writing Collection Multidisciplinary Approach to the Memories: Description of Methodology and Methods Anu Rissanen: History of Mental Health Care in Finland in the Twentieth Century The Development of Mental Hospitals in Finland Treatment in Mental Hospitals Ways of Reading the Memories Karoliina Maanmieli (Former Kähmi)—Figurative Language and Memories of Abuse Figurative Language as a Means of Conveying Traumatic Experiences Heaven and Hell The Oppressive Institution: Prison, Concentration Camp or a Rubbish Dump Animals and Inanimate Things Kirsi Heimonen: Researching Through Corporeal Attunement Corporeal Attunement and Embodied Hauntology Somatic Movement Practice as a Research Method Affects Within Memories and Movement Performing Memories Sari Kuuva: Psychiatric Hospitals as Emotional Communities—Fear, Topophilia and Topophobia in the Memories of the Children of the Staff Fear, Topophilia and Topophobia Empathy Discussion Conclusion Appendix 1 Our Call for Memories References 11 Conclusion: Qualitative Research in Mental Health: Reflections on Research Questions, Methods and Knowledge Four Types of Research Question Diversity with a Purpose What Makes Qualitative Research ‘Research’? Trends and Challenges Conclusion and Future Directions References Index