Turton, Robert;
(2022)
“You won’t get left behind”: immersive insights into a running and mental health peer support group.
Doctoral thesis (D.Clin.Psy), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Run Talk Run (RTR) is a community-based running and mental health peer support group. This project aimed to increase understanding of this group and has three parts: Part One: Conceptual Introduction. The thesis begins with a synthesis of the literature on why running in a mental health peer support group might have benefits for people’s mental health. This introduction critiques psychosocial mechanisms, which have been proposed to explain the mental health benefits of running. It highlights inconsistent findings and suggests that there are many unknown factors relating to this type of peer support group. Immersive methods might help to increase understanding of people’s experiences ‘live’ on the run, and address some of the gaps in the literature. Part Two: Empirical Paper. This involved the qualitative investigation into people’s experiences of RTR. Three groups were recruited for the project and a total of 15 participants. Data was collected ‘live’ on the run from each group using video recordings, alongside follow-up interviews. A reflexive thematic analysis approach was used, and three themes were generated: 1) Nobody left behind: on and beyond the run; 2) It's not therapy: negotiating personal boundaries and ethical issues; 3) A space for releasing emotions: listener responses and running processes. These findings highlight the strengths and challenges of this type of running and mental health peer support group. Part Three: Critical appraisal. The project concludes with an appraisal of the research process. This identifies how personal experiences and beliefs impacted the project. It concludes with the consideration of future research directions.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | D.Clin.Psy |
| Title: | “You won’t get left behind”: immersive insights into a running and mental health peer support group |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2021. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10156139 |
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