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What works to change identity? A rapid evidence assessment of interventions
Author(s) -
Barnett Georgia,
Boduszek Daniel,
Willmott Dominic
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12776
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , identity (music) , psychology , identity change , social identity theory , perception , social psychology , intervention (counseling) , qualitative research , social identity approach , inclusion (mineral) , developmental psychology , social group , social science , sociology , psychiatry , physics , feeling , neuroscience , acoustics
This paper describes the results of a rapid evidence assessment that aimed to identify the characteristics and efficacy of interventions that aimed to or reportedly changed personal or social identity. Following a rapid but systematic search of the published, peer‐reviewed research on identity change, 400 studies or reviews were screened for eligibility for inclusion in the review, and 22 were retained. The interventions and samples were diverse and studies came from a broad geographic area. The quality of the research varied, but the majority was assessed as carrying a low weight of evidence. Just under two‐thirds of the studies were qualitative, and most explored, retrospectively, participants' perceptions of, or applied theoretical frameworks to, identity change sometime after an intervention. Quantitative studies provided little evidence of the effectiveness of interventions in changing identity. Qualitative studies most commonly applied and then supported the Social Identity Theory of Identity Change to explain perceived changes in identity. Implications for research are discussed.