Research project – technology and mental wellbeing
I recently met Aislinn Bergin, a PhD student, at the King’s Fund Digital Congress and it was great to find out about her research. As I enter the final stages of writing up my thesis, it’s nice to be able to help out someone in the early stages of their PhD journey. Here is a bit more from Aislinn about her research: I have to admit that I wish I had thought of the words ‘people-driven’ when I first started my research. Instead I chose the much more difficult to explain concept of ‘autonomous’ – it’s also one of those terribly academic words that no one really knows the meaning of. Oh to go back in time! In fact the title of my research, “a constructive grounded theory study of the experiences of autonomous users of digital mental health” is quite a mouthful, so much so that I had to set up a website just to explain it! People-driven really does explain my research quite well though. I’m inviting people to tell me about their experiences of digital mental health, of using technology for their mental wellbeing. After spending the past 3 or 4 years digging deep into the world of digital mental health, looking at everything from computerised CBT to gaming apps for anxiety, I realised that there was something really significant going on. On the one hand you had all this research looking at the efficacy and acceptability of various digital tools and activities and on the other you had people using them. Lots of new stuff was being created, tested and rolled out with less than perfect results (few...
Will 2015 be the year of open?
Will 2015 be the year of open? For me, New Year marks the beginning of a countdown to completing my PhD research which I hope to finalise before this time next year. I began this blog in January three years ago with the intention of recording my PhD journey, and it has become more of a reflective, sharing and learning tool than I ever imagined – a journey into open. Formality versus open A common tension I’ve experienced during the course of my research is the open and informal nature of shared connections and learning on social networking sites and the relative formality and rigidity of academic learning within a University context. In the blogosphere, learning is shared peer-to-peer in the spirit of collaboration. In an academic paper or a chapter in a book there is both a formal style to comply with and access constraints in the shape of a subscription or purchase. In the blogosphere feedback is instant and ideas built upon ideas; in the formal arena writing is produced as finished and polished. I appreciate the rigour of formal research and peer review whilst I enjoy the emergent nature of learning through social networks. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but I do wonder if open has more transgressive possibilities. Open as a way of life I’m currently reading David Price’s Open: how we’ll work, live and learn in the future and his critique of formal learning resonates with the tensions I describe above. With audacious optimism, he argues that: “going ‘open’ is a social revolution that represents a fundamental challenge to the established order...
Audible Thoughts – A unique research project in mental health
I have found undertaking PhD research a solitary experience, so it is lovely to find other people on the same journey and researching in a similar field. Ali is doing fascinating research at the same University as me and I can’t wait to meet up with her and exchange notes. Here is a summary of her research and a request to get involved: My name is Ali Hull and I’m a PhD student at the University of .Leeds. I’m carrying out some research into the ways in which we think, talk, write about and otherwise represent mental health, with a view to understanding how those things impact on clinical practice. I am looking for people who are aged 18+ and have experience of NHS mental health care to take part in my study. Purpose of the research There are many different ways to think about mental health. Service users and mental health staff don’t always agree on what causes mental health problems, or what can be done to help those who experience them. This sometimes contributes to a mutual sense of ‘not being understood.’ Previous research tells us that staff who work with people who are mentally unwell sometimes find their work challenging. To help them cope, staff use things like humour to help them. My research attempts to bring together the ways we think about mental health and the way mental health staff deal with the difficulties of working with those who are distressed. The hope is that my research findings will be used to help improve care. The first phase of my research will help me to understand...
Maintaining a personal/professional equilibrium – a salutary tale
This morning I tweeted a photograph of an envelope, in which I was returning the free copy of The Sun newspaper that has dropped through my letter box, alongside the letterboxes millions of people in last few days. When I made an off-the-cuff decision to post that photo, I was drawing on a comment made by someone about returning theirs the night before – my head was in social/personal mode. I did a quick work/professional mode scan, got a green light, and pressed the ‘send’ button. I do generally steer clear of politics on Twitter and tend to save ranting and hyperbole for my personal Facebook page – where the biggest consequence is my dad occasionally telling me off. But, I detest quite a few things associated with The Sun, not least the topless images of women, or ‘girls’ as The Sun prefers to call them on their page 3. I personally think it’s ok to have views about such things and remain professional – I’d happily share and debate them with my colleagues at work. However, it was only as I reached the post box that I remembered that this week I emailed a Sun editor to request an interview as part of my PhD research. In choosing to tweet that photo, and make a statement about my personal/political views, I had scanned for professional but completely forgotten to do the same for research – at that particular moment it was outside of my conscious awareness. In my email to the editor I had given my blog and Twitter details, a modern form of verification, and I guess I’ve compromised any...about.me
Victoria Betton
victoria betton
director mHabitat | NHS | social media & mental health doctorate | interested in digital inclusion | parma violets fiend | http://codesigndigitalhealth.co.uk
