Project Details
Supervisor
Project area or title
Comparing the impact of the NEON Intervention on self-compassion between people in ethnic minority groups and people from the white majority group
Description
The Narrative Experiences Online (NEON) Intervention is a mental health intervention using recorded recovery narratives online (PGfAR RP-PG-0615-20016). People with mental health problems log onto the website to access recovery narratives. Recovery narratives are first-hand experiences of recovery from mental health problems including elements of adversity or struggle related to mental health problems, and descriptions of strengths, successes or survival.
A key ingredient for the NEON impact is connection: an intervention user feels connection to the narrative/narrator, and feels better. However, we have identified (a) people in ethnic minority groups experienced lower levels of connection than the white majority group, and (b) the meaning of life increased in the white majority group whereas it did not in people from ethnic minority groups after using the NEON Intervention for a year.
Connection and meaning in life are highly relevant to self-compassion. Self-compassion is a positive mental health construct, regarded as kindness towards oneself in difficult times. The importance of self-compassion has been increasingly recognised, yet a cross-cultural understanding of self-compassion remains under-developed. Self-compassion gives meaning to life’s difficulties by acknowledging (a) that they are part of a common human life and (b) that other people also experience similar difficulties. Our PhD project will compare how self-compassion is experienced by people in ethnic minority groups and people in the majority white group. The two groups will use the NEON Intervention, and will be interviewed. Data will be qualitatively analysed and compared between the two groups.
Theme
Common Mental Health (covering anxiety, depression)
University
University of Nottingham
Specific Project Eligibility
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/course/research/health-studies-phd