Helpful therapy events: IPA of psychotherapy with clients with LD v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Significant therapy events: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of psychotherapy with clients with learning disabilities
IRAS ID
199240
Contact name
Sarah Wills
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of the West of England
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Historically people with learning disabilities (LDs) have been excluded from psychotherapy due to their degree of intellectual impairment. It is estimated that a high proportion of people with LDs experience mental health difficulties, and there is therefore great need for offering psychotherapy to this client group. An area of research called helpful therapy events was developed during the 1980s by Elliott; helpful therapy events are described as the points in the therapy session in which the most fruitful therapeutic work occurs. Perspectives from clients and therapists contribute a hugely valuable wealth of information about the process of therapy. The exploration of helpful events during psychotherapy has made a vital contribution to furthering our understanding of therapeutic change and positive treatment outcomes for clients engaged in therapy, however, no research could be found that included participants with LDs. The aim of this research is to explore how clients with LDs may experience helpful events during psychotherapy and explore the experience of psychotherapy with clients with LDs.
Eight participants will be recruited to the study; the sample comprises four therapy dyads, each consisting of one client and one therapist. Therapist-participants will be therapists working within the Community Learning Disability Team. Client-participants will be over the age of 18 with a LD, about to commence psychotherapy with a therapist-participant. Each therapy session will be video recorded in order to prompt participants’ recall of that session during an interview; participants will be invited to stop/start the video to locate helpful therapy events for them to explore. Participants will be interviewed on two occasions a couple of days after the selected therapy session; one session from the early stages and one from the later stages of therapy. Participants will be in the study for up to a week after their final psychotherapy session.
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SW/0187
Date of REC Opinion
2 Aug 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion