Adolescent's experience of Medically Unexplained Symptoms
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Adolescent's experience of living with Medically Unexplained Symptoms; an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
IRAS ID
209598
Contact name
Gurpreet Kamboo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Staffordshire University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 29 days
Research summary
Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) can be defined as: “persistent severe and distressing symptoms that cannot be fully explained by medical knowledge or whose severity cannot be accounted for after medical investigation” (Husain, Browne & Chalder, 2007, p2). MUS in adolescents are common. It is estimated that 10-25% of adolescents report recurrent chronic somatic complaints, but only a small proportion of these have an identifiable medical cause (Hinton & Kirk, 2015). Although MUS are relatively common, MUS in adolescents remains an under researched health issue (Hinton & Kirk, 2015). It is unclear how individuals, particularly adolescents manage not having a medical explanation for their symptoms. Limited research focuses on how adolescents develop an understanding of their symptoms and how this may impact adolescents sense of self. Furthermore, health care professionals struggle to know how to work with individuals who present with MUS and subsequently, adolescents who experience MUS are at risk of receiving insufficient care(Hinton & Kirk, 2015). The aim of this study is to use qualitative interviews to understand how adolescents between the age of 12 and 17 experience MUS. Understanding adolescent's experiences could help to support professionals and family members in developing appropriate ways of working with this client group. This may help adolescents who experience MUS feel understood and listened too.
The interviews will take place at a NHS site and will last approximately an hour. The interviews will be analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), which is an approach concerned with trying to understand lived experience and with how participants themselves make sense of their experiences. Therefore it is centrally concerned with the meanings which those experiences hold for the participants.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1396
Date of REC Opinion
1 Aug 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion