Reducing symbolic-violence in the research encounter: collaborating with a survivor of domestic abuse in a qualitative study in UK primary care

Medical Students' Experience of Mindfulness Training in the UK: Well-Being, Coping Reserve, and Professional Development

Medical school can be a stressful experience for students, resulting in stress-related mental health problems. Policy recommendations from the General Medical Council (GMC), the body responsible for improving medical education in the UK, recommend the use of mindfulness training to increase well-being and resilience to stress. Students participating in an eight-week mindfulness training between Autumn 2011 and Spring 2015 were invited to complete a free text survey at the end of their mindfulness course. In addition, six qualitative interviews were conducted lasting between 60 and 90 minutes. Interviews used a topic guide and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. We used the framework approach to analyse the data. Students reported a new relationship to their thoughts and feelings which gave a greater sense of control and resiliency, an ability to manage their workload better, and more acceptance of their limitations as learners. The small group context was important. Students described improved empathy and communication skills through building inner awareness of thoughts and feelings, noticing judgments, and developing attentive observation. The findings show how resiliency and coping reserve can be developed within medical education and the role of mindfulness in this process. We present a conceptual model of a learnt cycle of specific vulnerability and describe how MBCT intercepts at various junctures in this self-reinforcing cycle through the development of new coping strategies that embrace an "allowed vulnerability."

Community-based participatory research in a heavily researched inner city neighbourhood: Perspectives of people who use drugs on their experiences as peer researchers

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has become an increasingly common approach to research involving people who use(d) drugs (PWUD), who are often employed as peer researchers on these projects. This paper seeks to understand the impact of CBPR on PWUD, particularly those living in heavily researched and stigmatized neighbourhoods where CBPR projects are often located. This study draws on 14 in-depth interviews with PWUD who had previous experience as both peer researchers and research participants in CBPR projects conducted between July 2010 and February 2011. The study employed a CBPR approach in its study design, recruitment, interviewing, and analysis. Our analysis indicates that participants were supportive of CBPR in principle and described the ways in which it helped contest stigmatizing assumptions and researcher bias. Participants also reported positive personal gains from participation in CBPR projects. However, many participants had negative experiences with CBPR projects, especially when CBPR principles were implemented in a superficial or incomplete manner. Participants emphasized the importance of inclusiveness and active deconstruction of hierarchy between researchers and community members to successful CBPR among drug using populations. CBPR has been widely adopted as a research approach within marginalized communities but has often been implemented inconsistently. Still, CBPR can empower communities to contest forms of social stigma that are often reproduced through academic research on marginalized communities. Our findings describe how the benefits of CBPR are maximized when CBPR principles are consistently applied and when community-based researchers are supported in ways that reduce power hierarchies. This suggests a need for capacity building within affected communities to develop independent support, training, and grievance processes for peer researchers.

Women's experiences of referral to a domestic violence advocate in UK primary care settings: a service-user collaborative study

BACKGROUND

Women experiencing domestic violence and abuse (DVA) are more likely to be in touch with health services than any other agency, yet doctors and nurses rarely ask about abuse, often failing to identify signs of DVA in their patients.

AIM

To understand women's experience of disclosure of DVA in primary care settings and subsequent referral to a DVA advocate in the context of a DVA training and support programme for primary care clinicians: Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS).

DESIGN AND SETTING

A service-user collaborative study using a qualitative study design. Recruitment was from across IRIS trial settings in Bristol and Hackney, London.

METHOD

Twelve women who had been referred to one of two specialist DVA advocates (based at specialist DVA agencies) were recruited by a GP taking part in IRIS. Women were interviewed by a survivor of DVA and interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was thematic using constant comparison.

RESULTS

GPs and nurses can play an important role in identifying women experiencing DVA and referring them to DVA specialist agencies. GPs may also have an important role to play in helping women maintain any changes they make as a result of referral to an advocate, by asking about DVA in subsequent consultations.

CONCLUSION

A short time interval between a primary care referral and initial contact with an advocate was valued by some women. For the initial contact with an advocate to happen as soon as possible after a primary care referral has been made, a close working relationship between primary care and the third sector needs to be cultivated.