The experiential impact of hospitalisation in early psychosis

Fenton, Kelly (2011). The experiential impact of hospitalisation in early psychosis. University of Birmingham. Clin.Psy.D.

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Abstract

Background: We know that psychiatric hospitalisation can be distressing (Morrison et al, 1999), and can have a negative impact on self-esteem (Bers et al 1993). Early Intervention in Psychosis services aim to keep young people out of hospital by providing community based services. Nevertheless people with an early psychosis may require hospitalisation. Little is known about the impact of hospitalisation on people where they are likely to have been hospitalised in a crisis and may have had the expectation that hospitalisation was unlikely given the ethos of the services supporting them.

Aims: The research aimed to gain an understanding of what it was like for young people to be hospitalised.

Method: The research made use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith et al, 1999), which is a qualitative approach concerned with the opinions, experiences and feelings of individuals.

Results: Findings showed participants’ had a variety of experiences of hospitalisation. The themes which emerged were: ‘So, where are you taking me?’, which explored the meaning of having no explanations, the ‘Mixed perceptions of the hospital’, which sought to understand what it was like when on the ward and ‘The challenge of making meaning,’ which explored the participants’ attempts to work out where they fitted in terms of the hospital and wider society.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Clin.Psy.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Clin.Psy.D.

Supervisor(s):