Doing fence sitting: a discursive analysis of clinical psychologists' constructions of mental health

Lofgren, Axel; Hewitt, Vanessa; das Nair, Roshan

Abstract

A growing body of research indicates that the way health care professionals conceptualize mental health might have important clinical implications. We adopted a discursive psychology approach to explore clinical psychologists’ accounts of mental health and its effects. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 clinical psychologists in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. The participants constructed mental health through building up biological factors and psychosocial aspects as opposite ends of the same spectrum, and then positioned themselves as distant from these extremes to manage issues of stake and accountability. A discourse of moral concern for service users was used to negotiate the implications of having different views of mental health from service users, enabling clinicians to manage issues of accountability and demonstrate their ability to be helpful. This suggests that clinicians should be mindful of the effects of their use of language and make the contingent nature of their knowledge explicit.

Citation

Lofgren, A., Hewitt, V., & das Nair, R. (2015). Doing fence sitting: a discursive analysis of clinical psychologists' constructions of mental health. Qualitative Health Research, 25(4), https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732314549479

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 8, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Sep 8, 2014
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 30, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 30, 2016
• Journal: Qualitative Health Research
• Print ISSN: 1049-7323
• Electronic ISSN: 1552-7557
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 4
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732314549479
• Keywords: Critical Methods, Discourse Analysis, Health and Well-Being, Health Care Professionals, Interviews, Semistructured, Knowledge Construction, Mental Health and Illness, Psychology, Qualitative Analysis
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/745920
• Publisher URL: http://qhr.sagepub.com/content/25/4/470
• Contract Date: Jun 30, 2016