Abstract | Recent qualitative evidence suggests Christian communities can hold specific religious and cultural beliefs regarding mental illness, which can influence how psychological illness is experienced, perceived and managed on both an idiographic and community level. There are, however, no studies which explore the implicit wider social discourses and narratives Christians may draw upon when making sense of mental illness. Objective: This study protocol paper presents a novel pilot study, which aims to collect qualitative data using story completion. Study design: Story completion is an innovative qualitative method which presents participants with a fictional story stem, or cue, and asks participants to continue the story in their own words. This study will explore evangelical Christians perceptions, representations and views of depression (story stem 1) and self-harm (story stem 2), as well as, the wider social, religious and cultural narratives they utilise. Analysis: A critical realist informed thematic analysis will be carried out on the data. Ethical considerations and dissemination plans are examined, with specific cognisance towards characteristics of the target sample. |
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