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The investigation of mental health in post-revolutionary Iranian women

Shanghai, F; (1998) The investigation of mental health in post-revolutionary Iranian women. Doctoral thesis , University of London. Green open access

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis is "The Investigation of Mental Health, Family and Religion in Post-Revolutionary Iranian Women". This aim was initially outlined and explored in a Pilot Study, Study 1, which outlined narrative perspectives in the form of life histories as the methodological approach to be adopted whilst drawing on psychoanalytical theory, particularly object relations theory as its underlying theoretical construction. These methodological and theoretical approaches were utilized throughout the thesis to inform the empirical studies. A series of in-depth, semi-structured, narrative interviews, coupled with multiple non-structural free flowing conversation and observation were utilized to investigate narratives as a form of life histories of adult development and depression in a group of Iranian women. Aspects of interpretative discourse analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the interview transcripts. Studies 1,2 and 3 draws on features of phenomenological heuristics and interpretative discourse analysis to elicit how women have adopted positions of 'mother', 'wife', 'daughter' and 'sister'. The analysis provides a theoretical contextualisation, addressing the role of Iranian women socio-culturally, historically, traditionally, and via the religion of Islam. Hence, specific chapters are dedicated to Islam, women's position in Iranian culture, and depression respectively. Additionally, Study 4 was conducted in conjunction with the Persian section of the BBC World Service radio. The programme "Family" was created allowing the listening audience in Iran to contact the studio in London, putting forward questions and problems to experts, i. e. psychologists and psychiatrists. The conclusion addresses the value of this genre of research methods to elicit a voice to women's life narratives. Furthermore, it is argued that there is a necessity for future research on this and related topics as significant scholarly attention on the mental health, family and religion in Iranian women has thus far been scarce.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Title: The investigation of mental health in post-revolutionary Iranian women
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language: English
Additional information: Thesis digitised by British Library EThOS. Some images have been excluded due to third party copyright.
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1349889
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