Experiences of mass media portrayals of mental health and recovery
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Experiences of mass media portrayals of mental health and the impact upon personal recovery
IRAS ID
170247
Contact name
Jeffrey Arnold
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
Recovery from mental illness has historically meant eliminating symptoms. The Recovery Model offers an alternative that recovery is regaining a sense of control and developing new meaning and purpose in one’s life, rather than feeling defined by the illness.
Research suggests that the idea of recovery has not been taken on within the media, which continues to portray mental health in misleading, stereotyped and negative ways to the public. Limited research has been conducted into how these media perceptions are experienced by individuals and how it affects their recovery.
Therefore, this study seeks to understand how the participants experience media representations. This study is looking for 6-8 participants from secure forensic hospitals in Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust. Research suggests that individuals in psychiatric forensic hospitals will experience higher levels of media involvement, stigma and poorer long-term outcomes and little is known about the impact of media representations upon their recovery.
Clinical teams in secure settings will be approached through the team psychologist. Team Psychologists will already be aware of the research from a presentation of the research at the psychology team meeting. With the aid of team psychologists and clinical teams, suitable individuals will be approached by researchers, guided by the use of the protocol and the participant information sheet.
The study then consists of two one hour audio recorded interviews and out of session work of keeping a diary and postcards with questions all exploring their experiences of media representations. The information collected during these interviews will be analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). This method looks for themes and how people make sense of what is going on. The results from this will be written into an empirical paper for publication. Participants will also receive written feedback about the findings.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/WM/0236
Date of REC Opinion
27 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion