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Cross-Cultural Study of Recovery in People with Schizophrenia: Methodology

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Abstract

Recovery defines a positive and empowering experience for people with Schizophrenia. The cultural environment could be a crucial determinant of this innately personal experience. The concept of recovery is said to have originated in the Western world. The Western notions of recovery may not be entirely relevant in the East, which is seen as different from the West in various aspects like a person’s identity as an individual, family structure and dynamics, religious and spiritual orientations, and access to quality health and welfare services. Definition of recovery accommodating a range of social and cultural factors is challenging. This paper discusses the constructivist grounded theory methodology of a qualitative research project to explore the Schizophrenia recovery experience in India and Australia, representing the Eastern and the Western cultures, respectively. Individual in-depth interviews and focus groups engaging people with Schizophrenia, their family members and mental health service providers will provide the data. The researchers’ interpretive understanding of the participants’ views and voices emerging from the data will form the base for theory construction. The knowledge emerging from the study can inform a culturally appropriate application of the recovery principles in the mental health care of people with Schizophrenia.

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Data Availability

The data is securely stored by the Principal Investigator (Srinivasan Tirupati) as undertaken with the Ethics Committees.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Service, Hunter New England Mental Health, Morisset Hospital, Morisset, NSW, 2264, Australia

    Srinivasan Tirupati

  2. Faculty of Health, School of Medicine and Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2306, Australia

    Srinivasan Tirupati

  3. Schizophrenia Research Foundations (India), Chennai, 600101, India

    Ramachandran Padmavati

  4. Samarth, Chennai, 600028, India

    Shuba Kumar & Rani Mohanraj

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  1. Srinivasan Tirupati
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  2. Ramachandran Padmavati
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  3. Shuba Kumar
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  4. Rani Mohanraj
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Contributions

The following is the contribution from each of the authors: ST: Development of the research methodology, the Interview guide, Informed consent forms, application to Research ethics committees for approval and responding to the queries raised by the Committees, literature search, writing the drafts and reviews of the manuscript, preparing the final draft of the manuscript. PR: Development of the research methodology, the Interview guide, Informed consent forms, application to Research ethics committees for approval and responding to the queries raised by the Committees, reviews of the manuscript, and approving the final draft of the manuscript. SK: Development of the research methodology, the Interview guide, Informed consent forms, application to Research ethics committees for approval and responding to the queries raised by the Committees, reviews of the manuscript, and approving the final draft of the manuscript. RM: Development of the research methodology, the Interview guide, Informed consent forms, application to Research ethics committees for approval and responding to the queries raised by the Committees, reviews of the manuscript, and approving the final draft of the manuscript. All the authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Srinivasan Tirupati.

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There is no conflict of interests or competing interests.

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Written informed consent in English or Tamil will be obtained from all participants.

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Written informed consent in English or Tamil will be obtained from all participants. The individual participants will be de-identified in the publications.

Ethics Approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Research Ethics Committee, Schizophrenia Research Foundation (India), Chennai, India and Hunter Research Ethics Committee, Newcastle, Australia.

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Tirupati, S., Padmavati, R., Kumar, S. et al. Cross-Cultural Study of Recovery in People with Schizophrenia: Methodology. J. Psychosoc. Rehabil. Ment. Health 9, 55–64 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40737-021-00234-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40737-021-00234-8

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