How do Black & Asian women in EIS teams make sense of being sectioned
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Black and Asian women’s conceptualisations of Psychosis and Compulsory Admission within an Early Intervention Service
IRAS ID
244528
Contact name
Jennifer Nicholas
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of East London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
It is well documented that Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups are disproportionately sectioned under the Mental Health Act, compared to the White population in the UK. While much of the focus has been on Black men who have been diagnosed with psychosis, there is relatively little research with BME women, who show similar trends in compulsory admissions.
Following the experience of a ‘First Episode of Psychosis’ for which a person may be compulsorily admitted to psychiatric hospital, Early Intervention Services often become involved in the person’s care. These teams have received much attention in recent years, particularly for evidencing good outcomes in several domains (Park, McCrone & Knapp, 2016). However, relatively little is known about the subjective experience of working with Early Intervention Services. This includes the experiences of women from BME backgrounds, experiencing intersecting inequalities, who have come to the service via coercive pathways (i.e. following compulsory admission to a psychiatric hospital).
Ten in depth interviews will be undertaken with Black and Asian women (aged 18-65) identified whilst accessing Early Intervention Services. Participants would have experienced a compulsory hospital admission in a London borough over the last year. Interviews will be transcribed and analysed by the researcher using Foucauldian-Informed Thematic Analysis.
This research will be used to understand the particular needs important to Black and Asian women accessing mental health care for psychosis and suggest improvements to service care. Furthermore, the data may generate information around how the functioning of services and society, impact the experience of psychosis. This may lead to recommendations for in the structures and processes of mental health provision, so that women from Black and Asian backgrounds who experience psychosis, may encounter less forceful and distressing pathways to mental health care.
REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1834
Date of REC Opinion
8 Nov 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion