Repository logo
 

eTheses

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/7180

This community contains an online collection of PhD theses and selected undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations written by QMU students and researchers.

PhD theses are available to be browsed, searched, read or printed by anyone interested in their content.

Undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in are only available to be read or printed by registered QMU staff and students (login required).

Contact Us

If you have any items to add or if you have any queries or comments about this repository or its contents, please contact eResearch@qmu.ac.uk.

Click on a link below to browse or search collections.

Browse

Filters

20191

Settings

Author: search.filters.author.Akoral, Melissa

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    MIXED METHODS INVESTIGATION OF DISTRESS RELATED TO PSYCHOSIS EXPERIENCES
    (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2019) Akoral, Melissa
    Distress associated with psychosis experiences has been related to the maintenance of psychosis experiences and people’s need for care. However, the mechanisms responsible for its maintenance remain unclear. Thus, this mixed methods project investigates experiential and psychological vulnerability factors contributing to distress related to psychosis in a clinical sample living in the community. This is done in order to determine whether specific vulnerability factors also act as maintenance factors for people in care. Therefore, these are assumed to be distinct. In the first study, a cross-sectional design (N= 60) was used to investigate the role of specific emotion regulation and metacognitive difficulties in the relationship between insecure attachment dimensions and distress related to psychosis experiences. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine which subscales predicted distress related to psychosis and significant predictors were taken forward to mediation models. Mediation analysis showed that only need for control mediated the relationship between insecure attachment and distress related to positive symptoms. Further, only limited access to emotion regulation strategies mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and distress associated with both negative symptoms and to depressive symptoms in psychosis. These results expand on previous research by suggesting specific vulnerability factors that are related to distress associated with different symptoms. In the second study, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse 10 in-depth qualitative interviews which explored people’s appraisals of their experiences of psychosis. Four inter-related themes emerged; (1)lacking control, (2)change – renegotiating a personal and social identity, (3)living in fear, and (4)multiple realities. The importance of ‘control’ is highlighted throughout all the themes, as negative appraisals about perceived control underpins experiences. This study demonstrates the importance of people’s appraisals to how they make meaning of and respond to psychosis experiences. Together, these studies emphasise that distress relates to psychosis experiences as a whole rather than specific symptoms. The two studies were integrated and interpreted using a joint display method. People’s perceived lack of control and unhelpful interpersonal relationships were found to contribute to the maintenance of distress related to psychosis experiences. Implications of these findings are discussed. Keywords: Psychosis, distress related to psychosis, emotion regulation, metacognition, attachment theory, mixed methods

This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.