Qualitative Research in Mental Health and Mental Illness. In: Olson K, Young RA, Schultz IZ, editors. Handbook of Qualitative Health Research for Evidence-Based Practice. New York: Springer; 2016. pp. 203-23. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2920-7_13]

Practice-based insights from specialized clinicians into youth suicide risk assessment and psychotherapy: A qualitative study

Objective: The experience of frontline clinicians is an underutilized source of knowledge about improving youth suicide intervention. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of highly experienced, specialized mental health clinicians on the practical application of risk assessment, stabilization, and treatment and their experience of working in this practice area.Method: Data were collected from seven focus groups with 28 clinicians and analyzed using consensual qualitative research methods.Results: Four domains emerged, describing 1) youth suicide intervention as relationally focused and attachment-informed, 2) the need for flexible and tailored care balancing individual and family intervention in the context of family complexity and fractured relationships, 3) a nuanced, therapeutic approach to managing the complexity and uncertainty of adolescent suicide risk, and 4) working in youth suicide intervention as emotionally demanding and facilitated or hampered by the organizational and systems context.Conclusion: The importance of harnessing family systems and attachment-informed approaches to alliance, risk assessment, and treatment was emphasized, along with the parallel need for systemic clinician support and consideration of the potential negative consequences of administrative and risk management protocols.

Depression as an Embodied Experience: Identifying the Central Role of the Body in Meaning-Making and Identity Processes

Α significant part of the psychological research on mental health and illness is interested in how the body can impact one's mental health. This impact is primarily explored using a biomedical framework, in studies that examine the body's role in the emergence of a mental illness, the ways it can signify the presence of an illness (i.e. physical symptoms) and, finally, its role in the treatment process. Within this literature, the body is conceptualised as an object that can be diagnosed and treated. The current study approaches the body as a subject in the experience of depression. Specifically, it demonstrates that the experience of depression is embodied and that the body mediates meaning-making and identity processes. Using qualitative findings from eight interviews with Greek-Cypriot adults diagnosed with depression, we demonstrate that participants make sense of depression through their bodies, as a painful, uncomfortable and agonising experience. Further, we discuss how the struggle to regain control over the body, experienced as hijacked by depression, leads to a disrupted relation with the self and the world that expands beyond the idea of the loss of self, as described in the literature. Theoretical and clinical implications are examined.

The Patient Experience of Recovery Following Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis: A Qualitative Content Analysis

OBJECTIVE

The authors examined patients' perceptions of the factors affecting their recovery from anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis, which is a rare, severe immune-mediated neurological disorder.

METHODS

Seven patients completed semistructured interviews exploring their experience of recovery. Participants were interviewed between 7 and 41 months after the initiation of treatment. Interviews were transcribed and subjected to qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

Facilitators of recovery included the presence of a support system and treatment-related factors. Barriers to recovery included perceived psychiatric stigma, insufficient illness education, and lifestyle disruptions to accommodate ongoing treatment. Adverse physical, psychological, and neurocognitive sequelae of anti-NMDAR encephalitis continued to affect participants' daily functioning. Most participants described strategies to manage neurocognitive deficits, fatigue, and anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

Anti-NMDAR encephalitis contributes to persistent burden on patients, their families, and health services after the resolution of acute symptoms. Physical, psychological, and cognitive changes contribute to long-term disease morbidity. To optimize recovery and reduce disability, further attention must be directed toward illness education, reducing stigma, and role disruption. Longer-term disability support may benefit those who do not fully recover.

The nurse in the mirror: Image of the female nurse during the Italian fascist period

AIMS

To describe the image of the female Licensed Nurse in Italy as promoted by the Fascist party from 1939-1943 and to understand how gender stereotypes influenced the construction of this image.

DESIGN

Mixed methods design.

METHOD

The study started in 2016 and ended in 2019. In the qualitative phase, the primary source was analysis, following Chabod's historical method (2012), while the quantitative phase involved statistical analysis of textual data.

DATA SOURCES

All data came from the only nursing category magazine of the time: 'L'Infermiera Italiana' (The Italian Nurse), published from 1939-1943.

RESULTS

From 112 articles analysed, the gradual elevation of the nurse emerged, including the partial replacement of 'old' nurses with Graduate Nurses. The analysis shows the maturation in structure, differentiation and specification, together with the birth of a new professional image. The accepted image of the nurse was now a woman of high moral character with religious ideals, but less known for her technical skills, an exception being the Visiting Health Assistant who functioned at a high level in the society.

CONCLUSIONS

The study shows an articulated, congruent and cohesive set of dimensions through which to review history and to understand the dynamics underlying the structuring of the nurse's professional image.

IMPACT

A better understanding of the dynamics behind the development of the professional image will guide present and future actions on gender stereotypes and their negative effects on the safety and quality of nursing care. International synergies and alliances are required.