Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
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The Journey from Despair to Hope:
An Exploration of the Phenomenon of Psychological Distress
in Women Residing in Secure Mental Health Services.
Jacqueline H. Parkes BA (Hons), M.Med.Sci, P.G. Dip, RMN
Principal Lecturer-Nursing Research and Consultancy Developments
The University of Northampton
Boughton Green road
Northampton
NN2 7AL
Tel: (01604) 89 2720
E-mail: Jackie.parkes@northampton.ac.uk
This presentation will describe the research study I have recently
successfully completed for my PhD. While working with the female
patients detained on the wards, it became apparent that they were
invariably diagnosed with a ‘personality disorder’ and tended to selfharm.
Many of them had also been subjected to extensive trauma
and abuse throughout their lives. On closer observation, a number
of these individuals did appear to express their deep emotional hurt
and pain through extreme acts of self-harm. It was interest in this
phenomenon, which has formed the basis of this research. The aim
of the study has therefore been to explore the phenomenon of
‘psychological distress’, and how it is expressed in female patients
currently residing within secure psychiatric services.
A scientific approach to descriptive phenomenological research
developed by Giorgi (1985: 2000a: 2000b) was used as the
theoretical framework for completing the investigation. The study
was conducted with 11 patients drawn from a high secure hospital
(A) and an independent medium secure hospital, who were asked to
describe their ‘lived experiences’ of being ‘psychologically
distressed’. The interviews were subsequently transcribed and
thematically analysed. Having uncovered the ‘essential structures’
of ‘psychological distress,’ the general description of this structure
is presented.
Finally, the key outcome of the study is a new model of care for
practitioners working in practice with this emotionally vulnerable
group of women. The ‘Humanistic Conceptual Framework for Care’,
based on Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ (1954), has been
specifically designed and developed to both inform and help to
organise the delivery of care to this unique group of ‘psychologically
distressed’ female patients. It is hoped that this novel and insightful
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