- Title
- Meaning in life and meaning of life: visual qualitative research in midlife academic staff with or without depression
- Creator
- Glaw, Xanthe M.
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Aim: To find sources of meaning in life and people’s beliefs about the meaning of life in adult academic staff in midlife, with or without depression, to inform current mental health clinical practice and research. Background: Failure to address the problem of meaninglessness or the existential crises is associated with psychopathologies such as depression, anxiety, addiction, aggression, hopelessness, apathy, lower levels of well-being, physical illness and suicide. This is a real and complex clinical issue that needs to be addressed. Methodology: Qualitative research using auto-photography and photo elicitation in a sample of Australian academic staff in midlife. Recruitment was enabled via the university webpage and resulted in 11 participants (n=11). Ethics approval was gained through the universities Human Research Ethics Committee. Trustworthiness was increased by using multiple data collection methods – auto-photography (visual), photo elicitation (verbal) and essay writing (written), allowing for the capturing of deeper, richer and multi-dimensional data. Interpretive thematic analysis was used to obtain optimal results from the visual, verbal and written data. Findings: Six participants had no depression and were mentally healthy and five had clinical depression. The most talked about sources of meaning in life were: having a connection to people and animals, looking after the self, having hobbies, working and having a career, and the least talked about were religion, spirituality and atheism. Relationships with family were cited as the most important source of meaning in life. Beliefs about the meaning of life included that: life is a journey of self-development, or is about religious or non-religious beliefs, or is about living well, or is about family, love and relationships, or about making a difference. The non-depressed mentally healthy group provided many more items in every category in all themes compared to the self-reported depression group (for example: 100 photographs submitted compared to 12; and 156 categories identified compared to 48). Clinical implications: This research suggests that mental health clinicians may benefit consumers by helping them explore the fundamental human questions of: Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? Where can I find meaning in life?; and, What is the meaning of my life? Without answers to these questions, consumers with depression may struggle to see the point of living, and if left untreated, may suffer from existential crises, severe depression and eventually suicide. Working on the attainment of meaning in life may be a goal of the therapeutic process and may result in better mental health outcomes for the clinical population. Mental health clinicians may need guidance and support to implement these strategies from more experienced clinicians and/or academic staff.
- Subject
- sources of meaning in life; beliefs about the meaning of life; meaninglessness; existential crises; depression; mental health
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1395277
- Identifier
- uon:33841
- Rights
- Copyright 2018 Xanthe M. Glaw
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 10 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 183 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |