Different avenues were used to advertise recruitment for participants due to difficulty in finding respondents with relevant and similar experience. This enabled access to additional participants who were interested and met the criteria for the study. Recruitment Posters (Appendix D) were displayed at parenting centres, GP surgeries, and organisations and social groups attended by Nigerian mothers across different counties and cities in the UK. Other avenues were social media and perinatal clinics. During this time, one of the recruitment criteria (years of experience of PND) was discovered to be too restrictive and therefore an amendment to ethics was applied for to broaden this recruitment criterion.
On receiving the ethics amendment, the recruitment process continued. Five other African mothers showed interest but failed to meet the required criteria; these women were from other African countries/nationalities - Ghanaian, Kenyans and Ugandan mothers. Two participants who met the criteria and agreed to participate later dropped out, resulting in extension on the recruitment period. The poster included brief information about the research and some of the inclusion and
55 | P a g e exclusion criteria. Individuals were advised to contact the researcher directly via phone or email to express their interest and willingness to take part in the study.
Upon initial contact by interested individuals, the participant’s information sheet (Appendix E) containing detailed information about the study was emailed and they were advised to contact the researcher if they needed to clarify anything or had any questions before considering to take part in the study.
Further to this and with individuals’ continued interest, the informed consent forms were emailed and a convenient date and venue for the interview were arranged via telephone and confirmed through emails. Participants were recruited mainly through organisation and social groups attended by Nigerian mothers, only one participant was recruited through words of mouth. The specific details of the recruitment organisations/groups will not be provided in order to protect participants’ identities.
3.6.2 Sampling
The study sought to recruit participants using purposive homogeneous sampling as well as snow-ball technique. This is a method that involves the researcher making contact with a person known to fit the research criteria and then making contact with others through the initial contact (Atkinson & Flint, 2001). Based on the recommendation for sampling for IPA studies (Smith & Eatough, 2006; Smith &
Osborn, 2008), for the recruitment strategy to be effective it is important that participants are recruited from a closely defined group for whom the research questions will have relevance and subjective significance (Breakwell, Hammond,
56 | P a g e Fife-Schaw & Smith, 2006). It can be argued that the ‘belonging’ to an ethnic group holds subjective meaning to the individual concerned. Thus, participants who met pre-determined criteria based on experiential knowledge (Smith et al. 2009) were recruited. This also allows the research questions to be adequately answered, enabling an insight into idiosyncratic and subjective interpretation of individual experiences (Smith & Eatough, 2006).
3.6.3 Inclusion and exclusion criteria:
The participants were required to be Nigerian-born women who now live in the UK, those who have given birth in the UK and with a history of PND diagnosis and treatment experience. They were required to speak fluent English, because language is considered to represent an important aspect within qualitative research (Smith et al. 2009). The richness and meaning of language may be put at risk if an interpreter is used or when the researcher is unable to understand, interpret and transcribe data supplied by participants. Therefore, this was set as an inclusion criterion.
Moreover, mothers who were below eighteen and above fifty-five years of age were excluded from taking part in the study because actual PND experience may fall short because having a child at a younger or older age may present its own unique challenges that might interfere with precise experience of PND. In addition, below eighteen years of age may require parental consent.
Mothers were also excluded if they were asylum seekers and if they were having problems with social services regarding their children. Mothers with challenging or
57 | P a g e unwell babies/children were also excluded because it was considered that these difficulties and challenges may interfere with accurate experience of PND.
3.6.5 Data collection
A face to face, semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect data and individual interview lasted approximately one hour and were recorded with encrypted digital recorder. The interview schedule consisted of open-ended, non-directive questions. Smith et al. (2009) suggests that the use of open-ended questions in semi-structured interviews is flexible providing the participants with the opportunity to narrate their experiences in their own words. Moreover, semi-structured interviews are the recommended data collection method for IPA because it allows flexibility for a dual focus in which the researcher and the participants can follow any avenues that emerge during the interview (Willig, 2013; Smith &
Osboorn, 2015). The interviews were guided by the researcher but participant-led in line with IPA principles (Smith & Eatough, 2006).
The interview schedule (Appendix A) was developed through receiving feedback from my academic supervisor and colleagues. The questions were modified following several drafts of the interview schedule, until it reached a satisfactory stage in which it was felt to adequately address the study’s research questions. The researcher made notes in her reflective diary, keeping record of non-verbal information, thoughts and observations concerning the interview process to inform the analytic process. The participants were fully debriefed at the end of the interview
58 | P a g e (Appendix H). A full detail of the interview process will be discussed later in the ethical considerations section.
3.6.6 Materials
The materials used in the study included a recruitment poster (Appendix D) that was displayed at a number of different organisations, the participants’ information sheet and consent forms that were discussed with participants prior to the interview (Appendix E & F). Others included an interview schedule (Appendix A) used in gathering data and a digital voice recorder used for recording the interviews. After each interview, a debriefing form (Appendix H) was given to participants. The Distress Protocol (Appendix G) was adhered to and a verbal debriefing took place.