Interviews - Vallentine

• Interviews AO1 1 - face-to-face, qs to symptoms

  Interviews are conducted face to face between a clinician and patient, the patient will be asked questions to gain info on the symptoms of their disorder + their experiences of MH
• Interview AO1 2 - open qs

  Open questions allow patients to fully explain their answers to give details on their views of MH or on their symptoms e.g. a schizophrenic will explain what voices they are hearing and what they are saying - generating qualitative data
• Interview AO1 3 - Closed questions

  Closed questions give set answers for the patient to respond with e.g. are you hearing voices, yes or no - generating quantitative data
• Interview AO1 4 - Unstructured Interviews

  The clinician has a general ideas about what they wish to discuss + ask the question to the patient and other questions generated from the patients response to gain more detailed knowledge. Each patient will have different questions
• Interview AO1 5 - structured

  Same questions asked by clinicians in same order to all patients
• AIM

  To determine the usefulness of psych-educational material provided via group work for offender patients within a highly secure forensic psychiatric hospital
• PROCEDUREP1

  • 42 male patients detained in high-security hospital under Mental Health act, referred for 'Understanding Mental Illnes' psycho-educational group. 80% had schizophrenia, schizotypical and delusional disorders, 64% of which were paranoid schizophrenia.
  • Semi-structured interview with patients after completed a group therapy session, designed to investigate their view of group therapy, experience including positive and negative aspects, feedback on how group could be improved, and what they felt they had gained
• PROCEDURE P2

  • Used the CORE-OM to assess effectiveness of psychological therapies and well-being, SCQ to assess self-esteem
  • Number of violent incidences noted (ranging from minor comments to physical fights). Changes in medication and staff, and engaging in other therapies also recorded.
  • These measures were there to look for change after the group work in terms of engagement and compliance
• FINDINGS

  • Out of 42 Ps, 31 completed, and only 21 were interviewed
  • All 21 said thought group was valuable and useful
  • 4 key themes identified
  • What participants value and why 'knowing the basic stuff gives you hope that you can get out'
  • What was helpful about the group 'helped me understand the symptoms and treatments'
  • Clinical implications 'gives you peace of mind'
  • What was difficult and unhelpful 'made me feel guilty about my past'
• CONCLUSION

  • There is a usefulness of psych-educational material provided via group for for offender patients within a high secure forensic psychiatric hospital.
  • The interviews showed how participants valued knowledge about their illness and how this knowledge can give them power, and underlined the lack of previous knowledge from Ps
  • Shows that semi-structured interviews were useful and their data could inform future practice
• :) Standardised Questions

  All 42 male patients given same questions from CORE-OM on psychological therapies and well-being, and SCQ on self-esteem. T/f increasing reliability as SSIs can be repeated to establish consistent findings
• :) Rapport

  Head researcher conducted the semi-structured interviews face-to-face, so could build up a relationship with the P, so that they could trust the researcher more and divulge more info about .... T/f SSI provided detailed in-depth info about the offender patients, increasing validity of the 4 core themes found
• :( Population Validity

  All 42 Ps were male offenders with some form of psychosis from america, however not all offenders are males with psychosis. T/findings from SSI on ____ are unrepresentative, and so cant be generalised to a wider population
• :( Subjective

  The follow up questions asked in the SSI by the researchers were based on what elements of patients answers they saw as important, so may have just been chosen as they support the hypothesis. T/f decreasing the validity of the 4 core themes