Expectations of individuals seeking therapy for depression
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding the expectations of individuals seeking therapy for depression
IRAS ID
190471
Contact name
Daniel Lewis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of the West of England
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The research aims to get a better understanding of how people with depression see therapy working for them. The researcher has a broad interest in how we can help to prepare clients for therapy, and how we can make the best of understanding our clients’ help-seeking experiences and expectations.
Participants would be people who have made the decision to see someone about their depression, and crucially, who have not had therapy before. Participants will be those who are on a waiting list for therapy or counselling at a primary care-level psychological wellbeing service. They will be asked to take part in one audio-recorded interview. The study is qualitative and therefore has the mindset that it will capture people’s views in their own words.
There are three issues at the heart of the research question. Firstly is the concern that only 13% of people with depression decide to go for therapy – half of those with anxiety. Secondly is the issue that therapy should be a collaborative venture and yet clients’ broader expectations for therapy are ill considered. Thirdly, clients can find it difficult to understand what therapy is and what doing it will mean for them. It is envisaged that by addressing these concerns the likelihood that people feel like they could take the step to go for therapy and benefit from it would be improved.
The specific objectives of this research will be to: provide advice to therapists about themes in their clients’ expectancies (both negative and positive) that they might give more attention to at the start of therapy; provide suggestions about the type of information that could be included pre-therapy information packs/videos; provide information to service commissioners about potential barriers that people with depression face in making the decision to go for therapy.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/WM/0418
Date of REC Opinion
23 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion