Mick Finlay
Anglia Ruskin University, Psychology, Faculty Member
Objective: Sexual health education is important in addressing the health and social inequalities faced by people with intellectual disabilities. However, provision of health-related advice and education to people with various types and... more
Objective: Sexual health education is important in addressing the health and social inequalities faced by people with intellectual disabilities. However, provision of health-related advice and education to people with various types and degrees of linguistic and learning difficulties involves addressing complex issues of language and comprehension. This article reports an exploratory study using 2 qualitative methods to examine the delivery of sexual health education to people with intellectual disabilities. Methods: Four video-recordings of sexual health education sessions were collected. Conversation analysis was used to examine in detail how such education occurs as a series of interactions between educators and learners. Interviews with 4 educators were carried out and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: The analysis shows how educators anticipate problems of comprehension and how they respond when there is evidence that a person does not understand the activity or the educational message. This occurs particularly when verbal prompts involve long sentences and abstract concepts. We show a characteristic pattern that arises in these situations, in which both educator and learner jointly produce a superficially correct response. Conclusions: Although interviews allows us some insight into contextual issues, strategy, and aspects of sexual health education that occur outside of the actual teaching sessions, analysis of actual interactions can show us patterns that occur in interactions between educators and learners when comprehension is in question. Addressing how sexual health education is delivered in practice and in detail provides valuable lessons about how such education can be improved.
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Research Interests: Education, Decision Making, Group Processes, Intellectual Disability, Intergroup Conflict (Psychology), and 14 moreHumans, Machiavellianism, Female, Male, Verbal behavior, Intellectual, Aged, Great Britain, Middle Aged, PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION, Psychology of Power, Group Homes, Learning Disabled, and Tape Recording
Research Interests: Sociology, Conversation Analysis, Social Interaction, Sociology of Health, Intellectual Disability, and 15 moreMental Retardation, Self Efficacy, Sociology of Health and Illness, Humans, Female, Male, Interpersonal Relations, Great Britain, Middle Aged, Adult, Public health systems and services research, Group Homes, Learning Disabled, Tape Recording, and Nursing staff
Research Interests: Sociology, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Politics, Humans, and 4 moreJews, Self Concept, Hostility, and Hate
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In this introductory chapter we address the construct of trust and its discursive realisation from two related perspectives: an ontological perspective in which we focus on how trust has been conceptualised historically and... more
In this introductory chapter we address the construct of trust and its discursive realisation from two related perspectives: an ontological perspective in which we focus on how trust has been conceptualised historically and philosophically, and a methodological perspective in which, taking account of this ontology, we highlight a range of inter-relatable methodologies in terms of which discourses of trust have been described, interpreted and explained.
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Discrepancies in the experiences of different ethnic groups in mental health services exist, such as in the persistently higher rates of schizophrenia diagnosis found among the African-Caribbean population compared to the white European... more
Discrepancies in the experiences of different ethnic groups in mental health services exist, such as in the persistently higher rates of schizophrenia diagnosis found among the African-Caribbean population compared to the white European population in the UK. Some hypotheses consider whether this is due to greater stigmatizing attitudes to mental illness in the African-Caribbean community, leading individuals to avoid treatment-seeking and an increased incidence of schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate recognition and evaluation of schizophrenic symptoms across African-Caribbean and white European individuals. One hundred and twenty eight adult students from London colleges completed a questionnaire assessing stigma beliefs, evaluation of symptoms as mental illness and help-seeking beliefs, in response to symptom vignettes. African-Caribbean participants indicated less stigmatizing beliefs towards both the symptoms and diagnostic label of schizophrenia compared to the white European participants. White European participants were more likely to label vignettes as implying 'mental illness' and also more likely to recommend professional health treatment. These results are inconsistent with a hypothesis that on average African-Caribbean people stigmatize schizophrenia more than white European people. While white European participants' beliefs were more likely to follow a western model of mental illness, African-Caribbean participants were more likely to have alternative beliefs. The influence of racial discrimination, mental illness knowledge and societal structures are discussed.
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This study aimed to test the hypothesis that adding symbols to written text can improve its comprehensibility for adults with learning disabilities. Nineteen adults with mild or borderline learning disabilities attempted to read four... more
This study aimed to test the hypothesis that adding symbols to written text can improve its comprehensibility for adults with learning disabilities. Nineteen adults with mild or borderline learning disabilities attempted to read four short passages of text, two of which had Widgit Rebus symbols added to them. Following each passage, they were asked questions to test their comprehension. A counterbalanced design was employed. Participants' comprehension scores were significantly higher for the symbolized passages than the non-symbolized ones. Adding symbols to written text can make comprehension easier for some adults with mild and borderline learning disabilities. Future research, exploring how to do this most effectively, would be worthwhile.
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This study's aim was to begin the process of measuring the reading comprehension of adults with mild and borderline learning disabilities, in order to generate information to help clinicians and other professionals to make written... more
This study's aim was to begin the process of measuring the reading comprehension of adults with mild and borderline learning disabilities, in order to generate information to help clinicians and other professionals to make written material for adults with learning disabilities more comprehensible. The Test for the Reception of Grammar (TROG), with items presented visually rather than orally, and the Reading Comprehension sub-test of the Wechsler Objective Reading Dimensions (WORD) battery were given to 24 service-users of a metropolitan community learning disability team who had an estimated IQ in the range 50-79. These tests were demonstrated to have satisfactory split-half reliability and convergent validity with this population, supporting both their use in this study and in clinical work. Data are presented concerning the distribution across the sample of reading-ages and the comprehension of written grammatical constructions. These data should be useful to those who are preparing written material for adults with learning disabilities.
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It is often suggested that people in potentially threatening situations might engage in self-enhancing temporal comparisons that allow them to view themselves and their experience in a more positive light. Data from semi-structured... more
It is often suggested that people in potentially threatening situations might engage in self-enhancing temporal comparisons that allow them to view themselves and their experience in a more positive light. Data from semi-structured interviews with 12 individuals in the UK diagnosed as having schizophrenia were content analyzed to explore patterns of temporal comparison. The study found that the onset of schizophrenic symptoms created a new baseline in participants' representations of their past, with different types of temporal comparisons occurring before and after this point. Although comparisons with past selves after onset supported the suggestion that people may select and construct their past in such a manner that permits them to see their present circumstances more positively and envisage a better future, comparisons with past selves before onset were more negative. The findings suggest that the Theory of Temporal Self-Appraisals (Ross & Wilson, 2000) needs to be elaborated to include people who have experienced major life changes.
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To explore the ways in which people use cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for recurrent depression and/or dysthymia after leaving therapy. A qualitative interview was used in this study. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with... more
To explore the ways in which people use cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for recurrent depression and/or dysthymia after leaving therapy. A qualitative interview was used in this study. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with nine people who had completed a course of CBT at least three months previously. The interviews explored their use of CBT techniques or models outside of therapy and their everyday management of depression. Eight of the nine participants reported engaging in some self-therapeutic activity, and identified depression, or the threat of depression, as a continuing presence in their lives. They used a range of techniques, either directly transferred from therapy or modified in some way, and identified a number of changes in the way they reacted to difficult situations or negative emotions. These included enactive responses such as leaving the room, making self-efficacy statements, or remembering what the therapist had said to them. Participants also described situations in which they could not use the things they had learnt in CBT. Finally, a range of factors that influenced the ways in which participants became self-therapists were identified. A number of implications for clinical practice are described. An understanding of how people modify CBT and use it (or not) in their everyday lives is important to understanding and improving effectiveness.
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Research Interests: Sociology, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Social Identity, Social Cognition, and 17 moreSocial Interaction, Empowerment, Group Processes, Intellectual Disability, Intergroup Conflict (Psychology), British Social History, Humans, Attribution, Interpersonal Relations, Organizational Policy, Great Britain, Self Concept, Institutionalization, Learning Disorders, Social Group, Psychology Social, and Personal autonomy
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Abstract This paper investigates social comparisons in people with schizophrenia. Stigma theories often suggest that people with stigmatized conditions face a chronic threat to self-esteem and that they respond to this in a variety of... more
Abstract This paper investigates social comparisons in people with schizophrenia. Stigma theories often suggest that people with stigmatized conditions face a chronic threat to self-esteem and that they respond to this in a variety of ways, one of which is by using ingroup downward comparisons. We analysed the spontaneous social comparisons used by participants in semi-structured interviews. A wide range of comparison dimensions, target others, and groupings were used, most of which did not represent a category of people ...
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Research Interests: Sociology, Anthropology, Mental Health, Bipolar Disorder, Prejudice, and 19 moreBorderline Personality Disorder, England, Mental Illness, Social Science & Medicine, Humans, Chronic Disease, Female, Stereotyping, Depressive Disorder, Ego, Middle Aged, Self Concept, Adult, Public health systems and services research, Multiple Personality Disorder, Psychological Models, Self Esteem, Diagnostic Criteria, and attitude to health
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Abstract This article concerns the group concept problem in people labelled as having learning disabilities, described in a series of papers by Gibbons and colleagues (Gibbons, 1981, 1985a, 1985b; Gibbons & Gibbons, 1980;... more
Abstract This article concerns the group concept problem in people labelled as having learning disabilities, described in a series of papers by Gibbons and colleagues (Gibbons, 1981, 1985a, 1985b; Gibbons & Gibbons, 1980; Gibbons & Kassin, 1982). We argue that the interpretations of these studies are questionable, and alternative explanations for the patterns of results found are possible. Examples from a study in which people with the label talked about particular others who also have the label are presented. In these examples, ...