A University of Sussex Phd Thesis Available Online Via Sussex
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A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Hearing voices in young people: distress factors, social relating and clinician attitudes. By Aikaterini Rammou Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Psychology University of Sussex December 2020 i Statement I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature: Aikaterini Rammou 22nd December 2020 ‘ ii Acknowledgements To my supervisors, Dr Mark Hayward, Professor David Fowler and Dr Clio Berry, I owe an enormous thank you. I feel very lucky and honoured to have been supervised by you. Your insightful feedback, your knowledge about the subject matter of this thesis and your vast experience in clinical research has steered me throughout this project. Mark, thank you for having faith in me and inspiring me to reflect on clinical research in a down-to-earth manner that, first and foremost, aims to improve the care for people with mental health difficulties. Thank you for your consistent support and guidance throughout my PhD journey, for your patience, your positive and calming attitude, your reassurance and understanding. I am very grateful for the moments you encouraged me to think of my ups and downs as opportunities for personal and professional development and for continually reminding me that they are an integral part of this learning journey. I have never left a supervision meeting feeling frustrated or misunderstood and I always felt reassured that I could talk to you about any circumstances I found challenging during research as you would offer a safe, supportive space to discuss them. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm on voice-hearing and mental health research. David, thank you for sharing your expertise throughout this thesis. I am especially grateful for your advice to reflect on the bigger picture of research in clinical practice, your honest guidance and for providing me with opportunities to connect with other researchers to expand my professional and social network, making this journey less lonely. Thank you for looking out for me to ensure I make it to the finish line. Thank you for encouraging me to embrace the idea that a “good enough” thesis is plenty, that a PhD is only one stop in someone’s research journey. Clio, thank you for your continual support with my research and daily struggles. Throughout this PhD you have always been there to answer my (sometimes very silly and long list of) questions. I am so grateful for your patience and willingness to give me detailed feedback that has helped me develop as a researcher. Thank you for teaching me the intricate ways that clinical research works and especially for your practical iii support on navigating day-to-day tasks. I am very grateful for your guidance and for your unique “scaffolding” approach to my questions or issues. After talking with you, I always left feeling confident in my own abilities and with a strong sense of hope. Thank you for being generous with sharing your statistics and methodology knowhow, for the many hours you spent with me discussing individual cases to help me score my Vista packs and for finding the time in your busy schedule to come with me to my first assessment sessions. It meant so much to me. Thank you for all the training opportunities you offered me and for your advice on my career. Most of all, thank you for being approachable at all times, for your empathy and for acknowledging the difficulties in my journey and reflecting them back to me giving them the right dimensions (but never dismissing them). Thank you for believing in me and never stopping encouraging me to look after myself, both mentally and physically (even when I was not really listening). Thank you for your great sense of humour as it has made me laugh even when I was exhausted and low. I feel incredibly lucky to have had you by my side these past few years. I would like to extend my gratitude to Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for funding this PhD and to the University of Sussex for sponsoring my research. A further big thank you to the SPFT R&D team for all the considerate guidance and support. To Professor Paul Sparks, thank you for sharing your expertise in the Theory of Planned Behaviour and your genuine interest in helping me conceptualise how to construct the main questionnaire for the last empirical study of this thesis. To my assessor, Dr Daniel Michelson, thank you for providing valuable feedback on pieces of my written work and for offering me practical advice on my career development. Thank you, Lucie Crowther and Helen Anderson, for sharing your knowledge and experience as research assistants. Thank you for being kind and welcoming and for making me feel less lonely in this PhD journey, especially at the beginning when everything was new and overwhelming. You have been a great source of support. Thank you to all the wonderful research assistants at the R&D who supported recruitment of my young people studies in their clinical teams, while having to juggle so iv many other things during their day. Special thanks to Emogen, Ross, Evelin, Aparajita, Abigail and Conor. To my more senior colleagues, Cassie Hazell, Leanne Bogen-Johnston and Sara Fielding-Smith, thank you for teaching me a great deal, perhaps without realising it. You have been a source of inspiration to finish this journey by being living examples of a hopeful and exciting post-PhD future. Thank you for your advice at various points of my PhD, and mostly for sharing your lived experience and practical tips on how to survive a PhD in clinical research. A big thank you to Dr Sam Fraser who helped with the initial set up of the clinician study used in this thesis by providing advice and sacrificing her time to help with the initial development of the survey. I would also like to express my gratitude to Anna-Marie Jones for her advice on my analysis and her thoughts on early career opportunities. Thank you to the psychology graduates at the R&D, Hazel, Izzy and Ish who helped with advertising my youth study in CAMHS and Jo who, while doing her MSc, volunteered to help me with double entering part of my assessment pack for data validation purposes. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the staff in CAMHS and EIP services for offering me the time and space to conduct my research, for recognising the value of this work by referring young people to the project and for taking part themselves in the clinicians’ survey. Special thanks to Jane Taylor in Hampshire CAMHS, Dr Victoria Bonnett and Dr India Whitehouse in Hastings CAMHS and Dr Akira Naito in Hailsham CAMHS. Thank you to the CAMHS interns Tasha and Sara who helped with spreading the word about the Vista project. Thank you to the PPI consultant of this project, Emma, for offering her advice on the design of the young people’s study. Most importantly, a massive heartfelt thank you to all young people who took part in my research. Thank you so ever much for sharing your experiences with me, for opening your hearts and sometimes your homes to help others by participating in this research. I could not have done this without you. v Last but not least, my family and friends, thank you. Without your emotional and practical support, I would not have made it through. To my wonderful friends – thank you for staying by my side till the end, for putting up with my moaning and with my continuous absence. I am sorry I have neglect to nurture our relationships; I am planning to make up for the lost time. To my two childhood friends, Ioanna and Alexandra, I am truly blessed to have you in my life. Even when you are physically miles away, I know I can always count on you. To my brother, thank you for being an inspiring figure all my life, for always being there to listen to my thoughts, PhD-related or otherwise, logical, or non-sense, for being ready to offer your help whenever I needed it and for making me feel held and understood. Thank you for cheering me on, mostly with your weird, dark sense of humour. I am eternally grateful to you and Foteini for helping me proofread this thesis. To my mum, my best friend in the whole world, whose unconditional support and love has made me the person I am today. Thank you for always making me feel whole, for setting the foundations in my life to be able to stand on my own two feet, even when the ground is shaking. To my dad who works tirelessly, thank you for inspiring me to be hardworking and honest in my line of work and for all that you have provided throughout my life so that I am able now to write this PhD thesis.