Understanding more fully: a multimodal hermeneutic-phenomenological approach

This article shares a research methodology that we argue supports human science researchers in their aim to understand lived experiences more fully. Drawing on Merleau-Pontian thinking, the article outlines three dimensions of sense experience that underpin our approach: the felt-sense, aesthetic aspects of language, and visual imagery. We then detail this approach: the data-collection phase is a creative interviewing method, adapted from Imagery in Movement Method (Schneier 1989) and focusing technique (Gendlin 1997). This results in multimodal data: drawings, and bodily and verbal accounts, rich in imagery. The analysis is an expanded hermeneutic-phenomenology, and in this article we focus in particular on our method for interpreting visual data. Three examples taken from a case-study about feeling guilty are provided to illustrate the potential of the approach. The article concludes with some reflections on the impact of using a multimodal approach in human science research

‘Never drop without your significant other, cause that way lies ruin’: the boundary work of couples who use MDMA together

MDMA has a variety of pro-social effects, such as increased friendliness and heightened empathy, yet there is a distinct lack of research examining how these effects might intertwine with a romantic relationship. This article seeks to compensate for this absence and explore heterosexual couples’ use of MDMA through the lens of the boundaries they construct around these experiences. Three couple interviews, two diary interviews and eight written diaries about couples’ MDMA practices were analysed. Douglas’ (2001) and Stenner’s (2013) work around order, disorder and what lies at the threshold between the two are employed here. This conceptual approach allows us to see what happens at the border of MDMA experiences as crucial to their constitution. Two main themes are identified in the data. First, MDMA use was boundaried from daily life both temporally and corporeally: the drug was tied to particular times in people’s lives as well as the performance of rituals which engaged the material world and reenchanted everyday spaces and selves. Secondly, other people are excluded from MDMA experiences to varying degrees in order to preserve the emotionally intense space for the couple alone. This paper claims that MDMA use forms part of a spectrum of relationship ‘work’ practices; a unique kind of ‘date night’ that revitalises couples’ connection. Hence, MDMA should be recognised as transforming couple as well as individual practices. Finally, it is suggested that harm reduction initiatives could distinguish more ‘messy’ forms of emotional harm and engage with users’ language of ‘specialness’ to limit negative impacts of MDMA use

Temperature dependence of the charge carrier mobility in gated quasi-one-dimensional systems

The many-body Monte Carlo method is used to evaluate the frequency dependent conductivity and the average mobility of a system of hopping charges, electronic or ionic on a one-dimensional chain or channel of finite length. Two cases are considered: the chain is connected to electrodes and in the other case the chain is confined giving zero dc conduction. The concentration of charge is varied using a gate electrode. At low temperatures and with the presence of an injection barrier, the mobility is an oscillatory function of density. This is due to the phenomenon of charge density pinning. Mobility changes occur due to the co-operative pinning and unpinning of the distribution. At high temperatures, we find that the electron-electron interaction reduces the mobility monotonically with density, but perhaps not as much as one might intuitively expect because the path summation favour the in-phase contributions to the mobility, i.e. the sequential paths in which the carriers have to wait for the one in front to exit and so on. The carrier interactions produce a frequency dependent mobility which is of the same order as the change in the dc mobility with density, i.e. it is a comparably weak effect. However, when combined with an injection barrier or intrinsic disorder, the interactions reduce the free volume and amplify disorder by making it non-local and this can explain the too early onset of frequency dependence in the conductivity of some high mobility quasi-one-dimensional organic materials.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Physical Review

Non-attendance at psychological therapy appointments

Purpose: Research demonstrates that non-attendance at healthcare appointments is a waste of scarce resources; leading to reduced productivity, increased costs, disadvantaged patients through increased waiting times, and demoralised staff. This study investigated non-attendance and implemented interventions to improve practice. Methodology: A mixed methods service audit took place in a primary care psychological therapies service. Existing service guidelines and reporting systems were reviewed. A cross-sectional design was used to compare a year’s cohort of completers of cognitive behavioural therapy (N=140) and drop-outs (N=61). Findings: Findings suggested contrasting guidelines and clinically inaccurate reporting systems. The overall service DNA (Did Not Attend) rate was 8.9%; well below rates suggested in the literature. The drop-out rate from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was 17%. The most influential factor associated with CBT drop-out was the level of depression. The level of anxiety, risk ratings and deprivation scores were also different between completers and drop-outs. The main reasons given for non-attendance were forgetting, being too unwell to attend, having other priorities, or dissatisfaction with the service; again these findings were consistent with prior research. Conclusions: A range of recommendations for practice are made, many of which were implemented with an associated reduction in the DNA rate

A step too far for teachers?

The recent Green Paper Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision contains much that should be lauded. The proposals include designating leads for mental health in schools, integrating mental health and wellbeing into the curriculum, and mental health awareness training for staff. Embedding psychological services in schools could potentially provide a destigmatised, de-medicalised way of supporting children’s mental health needs as they emerge. However, it is essential that the teachers at the forefront of these changes are not forgotten

Understanding More Fully: A Multimodal Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Approach

This article shares a research methodology that we argue supports human science researchers in their aim to understand lived experiences more fully. Drawing on Merleau-Pontian thinking, the article outlines three dimensions of sense experience that underpin our approach: the felt-sense, aesthetic aspects of language, and visual imagery. We then detail this approach: the data-collection phase is a creative interviewing method, adapted from Imagery in Movement Method (Schneier 1989) and focusing technique (Gendlin 1997). This results in multimodal data: drawings, and bodily and verbal accounts, rich in imagery. The analysis is an expanded hermeneutic-phenomenology, and in this article we focus in particular on our method for interpreting visual data. Three examples taken from a case-study about feeling guilty are provided to illustrate the potential of the approach. The article concludes with some reflections on the impact of using a multimodal approach in human science research. © 2014 Copyright © Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

If psychosis were cancer: A speculative comparison.

In this paper, we consider the metaphorical consequences of likening psychosis to cancer. While we find the comparison unhelpful for clinical purposes, we argue that it can be a helpful lens through which to examine service provision for psychosis in young people. Through this lens, specialist community-based services would appear to compare reasonably well. Inpatient care for young people with psychosis, on the other hand, suffers very badly by comparison with teenage cancer care. We note some of the many positive features of inpatient cancer care for young adults, and – drawing upon previous research on inpatient psychiatric care – observe that many of these are usually absent from mental health facilities. We conclude that this metaphor may be a helpful rhetorical device for communicating the lack of ‘parity of esteem’ between mental and physical healthcare. This inequity must be made visible in health policy, in commissioning, and in service provision

Picturing ourselves in the world:Drawings, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and the Relational Mapping Interview

Some aspects of experience can be challenging for research participants to verbalise. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) researchers need to get experience-near to meet their phenomenological commitments, capturing the “texture” and quality of existence, and placing participants in relation to events, objects, others, and the world. Incorporating drawing into IPA designs provides a vehicle through which participants can better explore and communicate their lifeworlds. IPA researchers also require rich accounts to fulfil their interpretative commitments. Drawing taps into multiple sensory registers simultaneously, providing polysemous data, which in turn lends itself to hermeneutic analysis. This article outlines a multimodal method, the relational mapping interview, which was developed to understand the relational context of various forms of distress and disruption. We illustrate how the approach results in richly nuanced visual and verbal accounts of relational experience. Drawing on an “expanded hermeneutic phenomenology,” we suggest how visual data can be analysed within an IPA framework to offer significant experiential insights

The experiences of inpatient nursing staff caring for young people with early psychosis

Background: Early intervention services aim to improve outcomes for people with first episode psychosis and, where possible, to prevent psychiatric hospital admission. When hospitalisation does occur, inpatient staff are required to support patients and families who may be less familiar with services, uncertain about possible outcomes, and may be experiencing a psychiatric hospital for the first time. Aims: Our study aimed to understand the process of hospitalisation in early psychosis, from the perspective of inpatient nursing staff. We were particularly interested in their experiences of working with younger people in the context of adult psychiatric wards. Methods: Nine inpatient nursing staff took part in semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed and then analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: Five themes are outlined: ‘it’s all new and it’s all learning’; the threatening, unpredictable environment; care and conflict within the intergenerational relationship; motivation and hope; and coping and self-preservation. Conclusions: The phenomenological focus of our approach throws the relational component of psychiatric nursing into sharp relief. We reflect on the implications for organisations, staff, families and young people. We suggest that the conventional mode of delivering acute psychiatric inpatient care is not likely to support the best relational and therapeutic outcomes