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Early life experiences and their impact on our understanding of depression
Author(s) -
FEELY M.,
SINES D.,
LONG A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2007.01097.x
Subject(s) - grounded theory , theoretical sampling , blame , focus group , qualitative research , psychology , depression (economics) , perception , experience sampling method , social psychology , sociology , social science , neuroscience , anthropology , economics , macroeconomics
This paper presents part of a larger Grounded Theory study, which was designed to capture a sample of people's perceptions of living with or, caring for, individuals with depression. Data were collected from a focus group consisting of people with depression ( n = 7). In‐depth one‐to‐one interviews were undertaken with eight further respondents ( n = 8). Purposeful sampling was used initially. Thereafter, in keeping with one of the key tenets of grounded theory, theoretical sampling was used. The emergent concepts were pursued until saturation occurred. The constant comparative approach was used to analyse the data together with the NVivo qualitative analysis software package. This paper focuses on the respondents' perceptions of the pre‐diagnosis, depression encounter. The key category that emerged was ‘the pre‐diagnosis phase of depression and the now experience’. Five key themes surfaced within this category: (1) negative impact significant life events; (2) self‐blame; (3) personal characteristics; (4) pre‐diagnosis, depression unknowingness; and (5) pre‐help seeking. The findings suggest that those in the field of human services need to better understand the lived experience of people with depression, in order to provide holistic treatment and care. 1