A personal construct study of Medically Unexplained Symptoms
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A personal-construct study with people experiencing medically unexplained symptoms (MUS).
IRAS ID
205808
Contact name
Tom Sanders
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Hertfordshire
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 29 days
Research summary
This research aims to increase understanding of medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). These are bodily symptoms for which no medical explanation has been found, which have been experienced for at least 6 months, disrupt how a person goes about their daily life, and causes them psychological distress. The study will explore how people who experience MUS view themselves and others in terms of both bodily and psychological characteristics (including their unexplained symptom as a personal characteristic). The study will conduct repertory grid interviews, which are structured interviews which ask participants recruited from primary care to provide key words to describe differences between themselves and people they know, then give numerical ratings of the people they have compared on these characteristics. They will also give ratings of how they think other people view them. This will enable the researchers to quantitatively interpret patterns in how participants views themselves and others, and to consider the role which the MUS has in their overall ways of viewing themselves and others. Different patterns of participants' ratings can be compared numerically with measures of symptom severity and psychological distress that will also be collected. This can test specific hypotheses, such as whether the implicit association of the symptom's presence with certain positive personality or bodily traits increases the likelihood of a more severe symptom experience; or whether a 'dissociation' of the symptom (the symptom sits outside of the person's usual ways of making sense of themselves and others) correlates with greater symptom impact and increased symptoms of depression and anxiety.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EE/0503
Date of REC Opinion
18 Jan 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion