Voice hearing during mental health treatment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the experiences of voice hearing during mental health treatment
IRAS ID
248530
Contact name
Rob Allison
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of York
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 24 days
Research summary
This research project aims to explore patients’ experiences of voice hearing during interactions with practitioners when receiving mental health treatment. Participants will be recruited from a local mental health NHS Trust and local Hearing Voices Groups, using a purposive sampling design. In order to be eligible for the study, participants must have experienced voice hearing (either currently or previously) and have received mental health treatment via inpatient or community or primary care services (either currently or previously). The proposed project will gather qualitative data via semi-structured interviews, which will be analysed to develop theory.\n\nPrevious research has identified that life experiences can influence later onset of voice hearing and suggests that how people relate to their voices can replicate their way of relating with other people. Conceptualising voice hearing within a relational framework is a recent area of inquiry (Corstens et al, 2012) and supports the notion that recovery can be achieved through treatment that focuses on improving relationships with voices. However, how voice hearing is experienced in a context of treatment interactions, predicated on a relational framework with practitioners, is under-researched. \n\nA recent review of qualitative research by the researcher exploring the effect of coercive treatment on relationships between patients and practitioners (in writing) reveals both positive and negative findings regarding how patients’ perceive their treatment experience. However, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, there has been a lack of research specifically exploring how voice hearing is experienced during treatment. It is believed this will be the first study with findings offering an in-depth qualitative analysis and development of theory regarding patients’ reported voice hearing experiences during interactions with practitioners. \n
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/YH/0274
Date of REC Opinion
20 Aug 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion