Hopeful and included: Domain-specific hope and social inclusion
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Hopeful and included: An exploration of domain-specific hope and social inclusion.
IRAS ID
177393
Contact name
Victoria Bonnett
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 15 days
Research summary
This research will explore how young people with psychosis talk about hope.
Hope has been found to be a significant predictor of mental health in young people. This consequently has implications for the implementation and outcome of interventions for young people (Venning, et al., 2011). Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services may be less effective at promoting social and functional outcomes (Marshall & Rathbone, 2011). Nationally, the majority of EIP patients participate in less structured activity than the age-matched general population, with a recent audit suggesting a similar profile in Sussex EIP. Structured activity is linked to social inclusion and broader personal recovery, as well as an important outcome in its own right (Fowler et al., 2009).
Hope theory suggests that hope is a combination of agency (‘the will’) and pathways (‘the ways’) focused on goal attainment. Previous research underpinning this proposal suggests that hopefulness is an important mechanism by which individual cognitive-based therapies may impact on outcome (Hodgekins & Fowler, 2010; Snyder, 2008). Hopefulness is also thought crucial following a First Episode of Psychosis (FEP) to reduce chance of relapse and suicide (Caldwell,& Gottesman,1992). However, there is a need for additional research and a need to consider domain-specific hope. Domain-specific hope represents hope in different life areas and is relevant for behavioural outcomes representing not the ‘promise of hope’ (as does global hope), but real-life pathways predicting social activity and inclusion outcomes.Being able to foster hope in a clinical intervention may shift the focus from current deficits to the possibility of a more hopeful future. Anthony (1993) describes recovery as a ‘way of living a satisfying, hopeful and contributing life’ (p. 527); what is less clear from the literature is how a ‘hopeful life’ is experienced by young people with psychosis and consequently how services may best foster this.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0899
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion