Methodological approaches to interviewing people with mental disabilities: analysis of research literature and field experience
Dear colleagues, we invite you to participate in the first seminar of the Project Group "(Re)production of Inclusive Living Space: Strategies and Practices of Integrating People with Mental Disabilities into the Local Community".
The seminar on the topic "Methodological Approaches to Interviewing People with Mental Disabilities: Analysis of Research Literature and Field Experience" will take place on December 27, 2023, at 4:00 pm (Moscow time).
Participants of the project group and research interns from our Laboratory, Danila Parshikov and Maxim Gurin, will be presenting at the seminar.
The seminar will focus on the specifics of conducting qualitative research targeting individuals with mental disabilities.
The attempt to empirically study the experience of people with mental disabilities is associated with several non-trivial methodological challenges. The primary task during the data collection stage is to adapt the research tools in such a way that they are sensitive to the cognitive and communicative characteristics of the informants while remaining effective in terms of the quality of the obtained data. A common challenge during the interpretation stage is the widespread practice of involving significant adults with mental disabilities to refine and enrich the conclusions obtained. This trend leads to silencing the "voice" of people with mental disabilities and diminishing their agency in representing their own experiences.
The seminar aims to discuss recommendations for conducting interviews with people with mental disabilities as proposed in methodological research. Additionally, the presenters will share the results of field experience in conducting interviews and focus groups with teenagers and adults with various cognitive characteristics. They will describe the process of field preparation and the challenges encountered.
The discussant for the seminar will be Yevgeny Shvedovsky, Junior Research Fellow at the Scientific Center for Mental Health, methodologist at Moscow State Psychological and Pedagogical University.
The working language of the seminar is Russian, and it will be conducted in a remote format.
For a connection link, please contact us via email: nsbaysha@hse.ru