Has social psychiatry met its Waterloo? Methodological and ethical issues in a community study.
The first wave of a longitudinal and prospective community study of minor psychiatric disorder among a cohort of socially disadvantaged women has been completed. The study hopes to extend the social model of depression, as initially proposed by Brown and Harris [1], by examining the mediating effects of personality factors and social support. Findings from previous studies have been largely restricted to associations between variables which may be at least partly attributable to methodological limitations in design and measurement techniques: specifically, the use of inherently biased sampling methods, single interview, retrospective data collection and less standardized diagnostic criteria to determine caseness. This paper discusses design strategies which were adopted to reduce the confounding between variables resulting from these limitations. The effectiveness of these strategies is evaluated in light of some methodological and ethical issues which have arisen during the recruitment of participants and the first wave of data collection.
Morgan
A
A
Social Psychiatry and Epidemiology Unit, University of New South Wales, Prince Henry Hospital, Little Bay.
Harris
M
M
Boyce
P
P
Wilhelm
K
K
D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D035841:Behavioral Research; D015982:Bias; D003158:Community Psychiatry / Q000639:trends*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D018579:Patient Selection; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D011638:Public Housing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D035842:Research Subjects; D035844:Researcher-Subject Relations; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D035862:Vulnerable Populations