A narrative analysis of adolescent inpatients stories about accessing social support during their transition into a psychiatric hospital

• Main Author: Taylor, Joanne
• Published: University of Surrey 2013
• Subjects: 362.20425083
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.600134

This thesis explored adolescent inpatients' narratives about their experiences of social support from their significant attachment figures during their transition into a psychiatric hospital. This qualitative study used multiple approaches from Narrative Analysis to examine the structure and tone (Gergen & Gergen, 1988), the content (narrative themes) (Murray, 2003; Riessman, 2008) and how their narratives were told (process analysis) (Riessman, 2008). An object sculpting (OS) task was used to enrich the interview process and was interpreted using a spatial analysis based on observation and systemic theory (Dallos & Draper. 2010). One young man and five young women were interviewed during their admission and their narratives are presented as a case series. In addition, narrative and process themes were collated from across all participants' narratives to provide an overall summary of the data. The implications of the findings for policy and clinical practice are discussed and suggestions for further research are provided.