`This book constitutes a valuable resource for postgraduate students and researchers. Most.... of the chapters succeed in providing a clear and comprehensive introduction to the various approaches and//or methods, thus enabling the reader to make an informed decision about whether or not they wish to pursue the topic further. The book as a whole is also very well referenced and this makes it a source of essential information for students and researchers with an interest in qualitative health psychology' - Health Psychology Update This book explains the role of qualitative research within health psychology. Theories and methods from a qualitative perspective are highly varied but, in general, differ from the po

`This book constitutes a valuable resource for postgraduate students and researchers. Most.... of the chapters succeed in providing a clear and comprehensive introduction to the various approaches and/or methods, thus enabling the reader to make an informed decision about whether or not they wish to pursue the topic further. The book as a whole is also very well referenced and this makes it a source of essential information for students and researchers with an interest in qualitative health psychology′ - Health Psychology Update This book explains the role of qualitative research within health psychology. Theories and methods from a qualitative perspective are highly varied but, in general, differ from the positivist approach which is concerned with quantifying the individual risk factors presumed to cause health and illness behaviour. This book shows clearly how a qualitative approach offers a better understanding of the experience of illness while locating it in its broader social context. Providing a detailed examination of these issues, the book is organized into three sections - the first considers some of the main theoretical perspectives underlying qualitative research in health psychology including discourse analysis and narrative as well as the social context and embodiment of health and illness; the second examines some of the practical issues involved in conducting qualitative research with different populations, such as children and the terminally ill; and the final section considers a range of analytic issues and specific analytic approaches such as grounded theory and action research, and the evaluation of qualitative methods.

The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Methods in Health Research is a comprehensive and authoritative source on qualitative research methods. The Handbook compiles accessible yet vigorous academic contributions by respected academics from the fast-growing field of qualitative methods in health research and consists of: - A series of case studies in the ways in which qualitative methods have contributed to the development of thinking in fields relevant to policy and practice in health care. - A section examining the main theoretical sources drawn on by qualitative researchers. - A section on specific techniques for the collection of data. - A section exploring issues relevant to the strategic place of qualitative research in health care environments. The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Methods in Health Research is an invaluable source of reference for all students, researchers and practitioners with a background in the health professions or health sciences.

This title provides step-by-step directions for how to conduct a meta-study, as well as recommendations for tools and standards for the application of this approach.

Why are qualitative methods so important to clinical and health psychology research? How do you decide which methods to use? Can you successfully combine qualitative and quantitative methods? Qualitative Research in Clinical and Health Psychology: - Features contributions from world-leading experts in the field - Includes chapters on issues, methodologies and methods often overlooked in qualitative research books, including psychoanalytic methods and discussions of culture and language - Uses a wealth of examples from research projects to show you how to apply the theory to real research This comprehensive textbook is the ideal guide for anybody who wishes to develop their understanding of qualitative methods and to learn how to apply them in clinical and health psychology.

This book provides a user-friendly introduction to the qualitative methods most commonly used in the mental health and psychotherapy arena. Chapters are written by leading researchers and the editors are experienced qualitative researchers, clinical trainers, and mental health practitioners Provides chapter-by-chapter guidance on conducting a qualitative study from across a range of approaches Offers guidance on how to review and appraise existing qualitative literature, how to choose the most appropriate method, and how to consider ethical issues Demonstrates how specific methods have been applied to questions in mental health research Uses examples drawn from recent research, including research with service users, in mental health practice and in psychotherapy

The research methods described and illustrated in this book are those particularly useful to the field of clinical and health psychology and cover both qualitative and quantitative approaches.