A qualitative investigation into the cultural master narrative for overcoming trauma and adversity in the United Kingdom.

Blackie, L. E. R.; Colgan, J. E. V.; McDonald, S; Mclean, K. C.

Abstract

Research in the field of narrative psychology has found that redemption—a narrative sequence in which people recount emotionally negative experiences as having positive endings—is a useful mechanism for coping with adversity. Redemption has been viewed as a cultural master narrative in North America, providing individuals with a socially valued script for narrating challenging life experiences. Presently little research has examined the presence and function of the redemption narrative outside of North American contexts. The aim of this qualitative study, therefore, was to identify themes in U.K. individuals’ narratives of trauma and adversity to gain insight into the content of the master narrative for meaning-making in the U.K. Sixty-five participants (57 females, Mage = 21.97, SD = 7.24) with little to no experience of lifetime adversity were recruited into an online survey. Participants answered open-ended questions adopting the perspective of a survivor from a selected U.K. national tragedy, focusing on how they felt survivors could recover from trauma. We identified 2 themes in our thematic analysis that were relevant to recovery: recuperation and redemption. Recuperation was most commonly reported, it was described as a gradual lessening of symptoms over time and the ability to cope with the lasting emotional and physical scars. Our findings suggest that redemption is not necessarily the dominant cultural script in the U.K. for guiding recovery in the aftermath of trauma. (APA PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Citation

Blackie, L. E. R., Colgan, J. E. V., McDonald, S., & Mclean, K. C. (2023). A qualitative investigation into the cultural master narrative for overcoming trauma and adversity in the United Kingdom. Qualitative Psychology, 10(1), 154-170. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000163

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 19, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jan 27, 2020
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 8, 2020
• Journal: Qualitative Psychology
• Print ISSN: 2326-3598
• Electronic ISSN: 2326-3601
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 154-170
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000163
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3687885
• Publisher URL: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fqup0000163
• Additional Information: ©American Psychological Association, 2020. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission. The final article is available, upon publication, at: https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000163