Clinical psychology Flashcards
Case-studies in clinical psychology- What is the example?
Lavernne’s case study
-Investigate how an outpatient therapy group provides a ‘firm boundary’ for individuals to explore their sense of self
Case-studies A01- Linked to Lavarenne et al
1.Study of one person/event/ thing- one session of a therapy group consisting of 10 members who had a vulnerability to psychosis
2.In-depth data is collected- coding system used to record emotions expressed by the patients, as well as thoughts and verbal content
3. Case-studies include a case-history- knew of the patients living experiences/past history before they took part in the study
4. Useful for studying rare/unusual behaviour- case-study of the therapy session showed that interactions with other people force those with mental illness more and more into isolation
Case studies A03- Linked to Lavarenne et al
- May be difficult to generalise as its an idiographic approach- 10 members in the therapy session had their own unique history, and so were not representative of everyone with a mental illness
- Researchers may lack objectivity as they may become too involved in the case- Lavarenne at al may have come to know the individuals in the therapy group well, so she may interpret their behaviours in a certain way based on how they usually act
- Issues of confidentiality and the ability to give informed consent- the researchers did not tape or video-record the sessions, however the names of the participants are known e.g. Earl, and due to their unique experiences it may be possible to identify them
Interviews in clinical psychology- What is the example?
Vallentine et al
-Use of interviews to establish the usefulness of psycho-educational material for offenders in a high-security psychiatric hospital
Interviews A01- Linked to Vallentine et al
- Different types of interviews e.g. structured with pre-determined questions or unstructured with no pre-determined questions- Vallentine et al used semi-structured interviews to evaluate the participants experiences of the group
- Questions are usually open but there may also be closed questions- Vallentine at al used open questions and then, using qualitative analysis, decided 4 categories to analyse data from interviews e.g. ‘what was helpful about the group?”
Interviews A03- Linked to Vallentine et al
1.Useful to provide quantitative data that is a valid insight into how people think/feel- how the patients felt about the group and how it could be improved
2. Risk of interviewer bias- Vallentine et al may have tailored the questions asked in order to produce a certain type of data and answers, reducing the validity
3. Open questions
HCPC- What is it?
Health and Care Professions Council
-Develop and maintain standards amongst those who work in health-related professions
What are the 7 guidelines?
- Character
-Providing a character reference from people who have known the person for at least 3 years - Health
-Ensure that any health problems that may affect the person’s ability to practice are disclosed - Standards of proficiency
-Standards set out that are necessary to protect the public e.g. accountability - Standards of conduct, performance and ethics
-Set out how all those registered should behave e.g. maintain patient confidentiality - Standards for CPD
-Continued Professional Training - Standards for education and training
-Minimum levels of qualification needed to register - Standards for prescribing
-The ability to safely prescribe medication
Longitudinal method- What is it? (A01)
-Research takes place over a long period of time
-Often involves a single sample group
-Compares the sample groups development or time-based change
-Changes are seen through patterns of measurement
What are examples of longitudinal research in clinical psychology?
- Used to monitor changes in symptoms for a sample group undergoing a certain treatment
- Boachie- observed the changes in 4 children using Olanzapine to treat anorexia nervosa- observed that they gained significant weight and experienced less fear of eating
What are the strengths of using longitudinal research in clinical psychology??
- There is no difficulty in making comparisons between different people that could be affected by individual differences
- Only way to reliably measure the effects of time on the certain behaviour, which is essential when considering the impact of treatments
What are the weaknesses of using longitudinal research in clinical psychology?
- The nature of the study (in that its over a long time) may mean there is a high drop out rate e.g. people may die, reducing the validity of the study as the sample size decreases
- Practical issue in that by the time data is published, it may be irrelevant, as clinical psychology is a fast-paced, constantly changing field and so findings may quickly become outdated
Cross-sectional research- what is it? (AO1)
-Used by researchers to take a ‘snapshot’ of a certain behaviour at a certain time
-Large sample used to get a good ‘cross-section’ of the population
-Conclusions drawn from the data gathered
What are examples of cross-sectional research in clinical psychology?
-Investigate the experience of schizophrenia across people of different ages e.g. take a sample of ppts with schizophrenia of different ages
What are the strengths of using cross-sectional research in clinical psychology?
- Data is drawn much more quickly, meaning conclusions can also be drawn more quickly
- Reports may be more valid because they are drawn at the time of the research rather than potentially several years later
What are the weaknesses of cross-sectional research in clinical psychology?
- Individual differences are likely to have a significant effect on the conclusions drawn, as different people are being studied e.g. impact of culture on diagnosis
- Issues of cohort effects as the research may be attributed to the effects of a participant being raised in a particular place or time e.g. anorexia patients may have been exposed to certain cultural ideals