Exploring Experiences of Hearing Voices for Young People & Caregivers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring Experiences of Hearing Voices for Young People and their Parents and Caregivers
IRAS ID
222853
Contact name
Sarah Parry
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Manchester Metropolitan University Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 3 days
Research summary
Hearing voices (auditory verbal hallucinations) is not uncommon for children and young people and these experiences do not usually cause distress, often remitting within a relatively short time. However, hearing voices can continue for many years after onset, causing considerable distress to young voice-hearers and their families. Research with adult voice-hearers suggests that the level of distress people feel in relation to the voices they hear is directly influenced by the meanings they attach to the experience of voice hearing (Birchwood, Meaden, Trower, Gilbert, & Plaistow, 2000; Chadwick & Birchwood, 1994, 1997; Chadwick, Lees, & Birchwood, 2000; Morrison, 2001; Varese et al., 2016). The experience of hearing voices for children remains largely misunderstood within UK health services and the existing literature does little to influence service provisions.
The proposed research study will involve three distinct but overlapping phases, which are explained in detail in the Protocol. The design of the study has benefited from extensive consultation and collaboration with the Voice Collective (http://www.voicecollective.co.uk/), a London-based project that supports children and young people who hear voices funded by the mental health charity Mind. All documents that will be participant facing during the study will be reviewed by young people (aged 16-25) who have had experiences of hearing voices. The purpose of the research is to understand more about the experiences of young people who hear voices and the impact of these experiences within their families. We aim to understand more about what is helpful or hindering for participants and what systemic support may be useful. In order to do this, we will collect information from young people who hear voices and their parents/carers through an online survey or face-to-face interviews. We will then present our findings through two focus groups to field practitioners and experts-by-experience to explore theoretical generalizability and next steps.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0154
Date of REC Opinion
13 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion