Final Paper: Research Proposal

The authors of this study set the following as their objective, or goal, for their research:

“This qualitative study aimed to address these knowledge gaps by exploring self-management from the perspectives of those living with depression. It aimed to understand how people with longer-term depression manage the condition, how services can best support self-management and whether the recovery approach is a useful concept (Chambers, Cook, Thake, Foster, Shaw, Hutten, Parry & Ricketts, 2015).”

With the statics presented in their research, it is evident that this type of study is necessary and the results can offer insight and help in caring for those with MDD. If there is a global condition affecting people by the millions, their objective for this research was indeed ethical and could produce real, practical, findings.

Areas of Psychology

This study crossed several areas of psychology. Because the researchers were seeking information about how to live with MDD or depression, I would classify the research in the Cognitive Psychology area and establish that as the overarching area. Cognitive psychology “is typically defined as the study of internal mental processes, including the ways that people think, learn, remember, speak, perceive, and so on. Cognitive psychologists are primarily interested in the ways that people navigate and make sense of the world.” That’s exactly what the stated objective of the research was, per its authors. There is an element of Developmental Psychology in the research as well- because the authors sought how this disorder impacted the participants on a long-term basis. Inevitably as adaptive creatures, there was a shift in the participants’ development at some point, and this research touches upon that as well. Additionally, Health Psychology was also incorporated: “The study was grounded within a phenomenological paradigm and used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) because it concerned people’s perceptions of living with and managing longer-term depression. In health psychology the benefits of IPA have been highlighted as a method that can be used to explore the experience of individuals and to inform practice (Chambers, et al., 2015).”

Ethical Consideration

After many grossly egregious studies and research practices that were done on either unknowing or unwilling participants, we are now in a time where we have protections in place to keep us from falling in that sink-hole. Informed consent, confidentiality, deception, and debriefing all have to do with seeking to ensure that the patient is well informed of their rights, responsibilities, and what may be going on both treatment wise, and research wise.  They include everything from information upfront to information during the procedure or treatment, followed by a check-for-understanding afterwards. These measures are a part of the shift in mindset to make sure that lay persons are kept in the know about the rights they have as well as the physicians and clinicians, and researchers’ responsibilities to them. This movement toward “full disclosure” is an extended measure to make sure that healthcare is held to the highest of ethical standards.

The researchers really worked to ensure that the study was a pure and true as possible. They regularly consulted with various stakeholders in the project, some of whom had even experienced long-term depression themselves. There was a pre-assessment conducted, in order to rule out those who fell under the (intentional) exclusion criteria, as well as to get the vital data (demographical information)- which I’m sure helped the participants to feel more comfortable with the process. The pre-screening was well structured, based on the records. All of those steps speak to informed consent- the researchers were really working to ensure that the participants knew what they were getting in to. 28 participants completed the pre-screening, but 7 were disqualified, which left a sample of 21 adults. At the conclusion of the study, “Participants were invited to attend the individual interview approximately four weeks after the MINI interview, to emphasize a clear demarcation between the two different types of interviews (Chambers, et al., 2015).” That is debriefing- likened to a check back for understanding.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the same size is a bit small- but considering the thoroughness of the screening process, I would consider this to be a strong research project which has the credentials to make the findings acceptable and deemed accurate.

References

Chambers, E., Cook, S., Thake, A., Foster, A., Shaw, S., Hutten, R., Parry, G., & Ricketts, T. (2015). The self-management of longer-term depression: Learning from the patient, A qualitative study. BMC Psychiatry, 15, 172. doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0550-6

Citrome, L. (2018). Improving Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies for

Major Depressive Disorder. Journal of Managed Care Medicine, 2018; 21(1): 24-28. 5p. (Article - tables/charts) ISSN: 1094-1525, Database: CINAHL Complete