Black Caribbean men in high secure psychiatric care : a descriptive-interpretative analysis

• Main Author: Parkinson, John
• Published: Anglia Ruskin University 2002
• Subjects: 616; Race
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.248823

Over-representation of black men in psychiatric detention is a matter of concern. At Rampton Hospital in the nineteen nineties thirty percent of male mentally ill admissions were Black Caribbean, increasingly born in the United Kingdom. Effects of this have been recorded and discussed by inquiries into secure psychiatric care. Research into the perceptions of treatment of Black Caribbean users of mental health services has been recommended. Adopting a sociological perspective has been urged especially methods that seek to understand participants in their own terms. The present study adopts an inductive phenomenological approach to reflect the beliefs of this population; and their views concerning effects of race, illness, treatment and punishment. All consenting members of the population were interviewed and this data audiotaped and transcribed. Reflexive analysis utilised Ethnograph, a program for qualitative analysis. A classification of types of qualitative analytic theory in relation to the use of qualitative analysis programs helped define theoretical claims for the analysis. Analytic techniques based on Grounded Theory were used to develop an organising system from the reduced data. Validation of transcripts and coding included both participants and independent experts. Stage One involved four interviews; followed by revision of the interview schedule. Stage Two involved nine further interviews. This data was combined with participant feedback from validation. The organising system of clearly defined coded categories and their relationships was used in executing an analytic strategy of matrix and network displays, which enhances analytic transparency. This first produced displays and narratives for each participant; data reduction, which then supported cross-case analysis of important emerging themes and an analysis of causal streams. These streams were combined in a causal model from which propositions were derived. This research is innovative with this population and in the methods of analysis adopted. Relationships of race, beliefs, identity, treatment and punishment to mode of detention, adaptation and compartmentalisation have emerged and been examined.