Posttraumatic Growth among survivors of the Northern Ireland Troubles
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring Post-traumatic Growth in the Context of Northern Ireland Troubles
IRAS ID
255373
Contact name
Amanda Gleeson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 1 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study will be the first quantitative study to explore post-traumatic growth (PTG) in Northern Ireland (NI). The concept of Posttraumatic growth was first introduced by Tedeschi and Calhoun (1991), and describes growth in response to trauma. Research suggests it can occur alongside post-traumatic stress symptoms, and an element of distress may be needed in order for growth to occur (Schubert, Schmidt, & Rosner, 2016). Simms (2014) conducted a qualitative case-study exploration of PTG in Northern Ireland, and evidenced its existence among the three participants studied. The current study seeks to establish whether PTG exists among survivors of the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland, using a larger sample size. It also seeks to explore the relationship between PTG and variables such as: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; Schubert et al., 2016; Shakespeare-Finch, & Lurie-Beck, 2014), trauma appraisals (the way in which an individual makes sense of a trauma; Foa, Ehlers, Clark, Tolin, & Orsillo, 1999), coping style (Stanton et al., 2006), social support (Jia, Ying, Zhou, Wu, & Lin, 2015), quality of life (Kleim & Ehlers, 2009), and type of trauma experienced (Kılıç, Magruder, & Koryürek, 2016; Shakespeare-Finch & Armstrong, 2010). It will use a survey methodology, collecting data via questionnaires from survivors of trauma, who have attended a service for support relating to a traumatic event. It will be conducted by two trainee clinical psychologists, as part of their doctoral qualification. Questionnaires will be scored, and inputted into the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) to be analysed. The project will be written up for academic submission to Queen's University Belfast, but will also be written up for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
19/NI/0090
Date of REC Opinion
21 May 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion