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Preparing for a physical activity intervention in a secure psychiatric hospital: reflexive insights on entering the field

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journal contribution
posted on 2019-10-24, 13:24 authored by Eva Rogers, Anthony PapathomasAnthony Papathomas, Florence KinnafickFlorence Kinnafick

The medical model for treating severe mental illness has been critiqued for its insensitivity to the subjective and contextual facets of patients’ illness and recovery experiences. For many, mental health service efforts are a function of the social and institutional contexts in which they occur. Understanding this therapeutic context is therefore critical to planning effective care strategies. In this confessional tale, the first author reflects on one-year (>300 hours) within a medium secure psychiatric hospital - a process carried out to inform the future design of a physical activity intervention. Drawing upon reflexive journal entries, conversations across the research team, and personal introspection, three broad methodological insights are offered; 1) becoming a reflexive researcher, 2) negotiating ‘the self’ in a mental health context, and 3) cultural means to logistical ends. Researcher reflexivity is a challenging and effortful process that can lead to unforeseen insights about the research setting. Practicing reflexivity supported the first author towards an awareness of her own stigmatised attitudes to mental illness and how they might affect the research process. Immersive fieldwork is time consuming and presents a raft of methodological difficulties, but it supports deep and nuanced insights unavailable through other methods. When seeking to effectively tailor intervention strategies to the unique needs of a given healthcare setting, this added depth and nuance is valuable. Health intervention work that draws on immersive qualitative methods, rather than tokenistic forms of “patient public involvement”, is better equipped to deliver strategies that are not only efficacious but also effective.


History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health

Volume

13

Issue

2

Pages

235-249

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Rights holder

© Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Publisher statement

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health on 10 November 2019, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1685587.

Acceptance date

2019-10-22

Publication date

2019-11-10

Copyright date

2021

ISSN

2159-676X

eISSN

2159-6778

Language

  • en

Depositor

Dr Anthony Papathomas Deposit date: 23 October 2019

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