Extending the boundaries: Autoethnography as an emergent method in mental health nursing research

International Journal of Mental Health Nursing

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 44-53

  Foster, Kim ^a,b   McAllister, Margaret ^b   O'Brien, Louise ^c,d  

^a JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^c UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN SYDNEY   (Australia)

^d SYDNEY SOUTH WEST AREA HEALTH SERVICE   (Australia)

Author keywords

Autobiography; Autoethnography; Mental health nursing; Qualitative inquiry; Self as research tool

Indexed keywords

AUSTRALIA; HUMAN; INFORMATION PROCESSING; MEDICAL RESEARCH; MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE; METHODOLOGY; NURSE ATTITUDE; ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT; PSYCHIATRIC NURSING; REVIEW; SELF CONCEPT;

AUSTRALIA; BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH; DATA COLLECTION; HUMANS; MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES; NURSE'S ROLE; PSYCHIATRIC NURSING; SELF CONCEPT;

EID: 33644841739     PISSN: 14458330     EISSN: 14470349     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2006.00402.x     Document Type: Review

References (64)

1. Abma TA. 2002 Emerging narrative forms of knowledge representation in the health sciences: Two texts in a postmodern context Qualitative Health Research 12 5 27
2. Altschul A. 1985 There won't be a next time In Rippere & V. R. Williams (Eds) Wounded Healers: Mental Health Workers' Experiences of Depression (pp. 167 172 Chichester, New York Wiley
3. Barker P. 1998 The future of the theory of interpersonal relations? A personal reflection on Peplau's legacy Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 5 213 220
4. Behar R. 1996 The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology that Breaks Your Heart Boston Beacon Press
5. Berger L. 2001 Inside out: Narrative autoethnography as a path toward rapport Qualitative Inquiry 7 504 518
6. Blair K. 2004 In a daughter's voice: A mental health nurse's experience of being the eldest daughter of a mother with schizophrenia In Cowling V. (Ed.). Children of Parents with Mental Illness: Clinical Perspectives ( 85 98 Melbourne ACER Press
7. Bochner AP. Ellis C. 1996 Talking over Ethnography In Ellis C. Bochner AP. (Eds) Composing Ethnography: Alternative Forms of Qualitative Writing Vol. 1 ( 13 45 Walnut Creek AltaMira.
8. Bohan JS. 2002 Sex differences and/in the self: Classic themes, feminist variations, postmodern challenges Psychology of Women Quarterly 26 74 88
9. Boufoy-Bastick B. 2004 Auto-interviewing, auto-ethnography and critical incident methodology for eliciting a self-conceptualised worldview Forum: Qualitative Social Research 5 Article 37. [Cited 15 May 2004]. Available from: URL:
10. Burdell P. Swadener BB. 1999 Critical personal narrative and auto-ethnography in education: Reflections on a genre Educational Researcher 28 21 26
11. Burnard P. Hannigan B. 2000 Qualitative and quantitative approaches in mental health nursing: Moving the debate forward Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 7 1 6
12. Camden-Pratt CE. 2002 Daughters of Persephone: Legacies of maternal 'madness' (Unpublished PhD) Sydney: University of Western Sydney
13. Carter S. 2002 How much subjectivity is needed to understand our lives objectively? Qualitative Health Research 12 1184 1201
14. Casey B. Long A. 2002 Reconciling voices Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 9 603 610
15. Chambers M. 1998 Interpersonal mental health nursing: Research issues and challenges Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 5 203 211
16. Chesney M. 2000 Interaction and understanding: 'Me' in the research Nurse Researcher 7 58 69
17. Chesney M. 2001 Dilemmas of self in the method Qualitative Health Research 11 127 135
18. Church K. 1997 Madness in her method: Creating a 'survivor frame' for mental health research Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 4 307 308
19. Clandinin DJ. 1986 Classroom Practice: Teacher Images in Action London Falmer.
20. Clandinin DJ. Connelly FM. 1987 Narrative, Experience and the Study of Curriculum (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 306 208 (Report No. SP 031 094)). Edmonton Alberta Advisory Committee for Educational Studies.
21. Coffey A. 1999 The Ethnographic Self: Fieldwork and the Representation of Identity London Sage Publications
22. Cohen L. Manion L. Morrison K. 2000 Research Methods in Education 5th edn London Routledge
23. Cole AL. Knowles GJ. (Eds) 2001 Lives in Context: The Art of Life History Research Walnut Creek AltaMira Press.
24. Cooper L. 2003 ). Re-searching my self: An autoethnography of my personal experience of work-related stress, drawing on personal, professional and research narratives (Abstract). Paper presented at the 9th Annual Counselling and Psychotherapy Research Conference, Leicester, England, 16-17 May.
25. Cutcliffe J. Goward P. 2000 Mental health nurses and qualitative research methods: A mutual attraction? Journal of Advanced Nursing 31 590 598
26. Denzin NK. 1997 Interpretive Ethnography: Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century Thousand Oaks Sage Publications
27. Denzin NK. Lincoln YS. 2000 Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research In Denzin NK. Lincoln YS. (Eds) Handbook of Qualitative Research 2nd edn ( 1 28 Thousand Oaks Sage Publications
28. Dershimer G. 1991 Learning to think like a teacher Teaching and Teacher Education 7 159 168
29. Eckroth-Bucher M. 2001 Philosophical basis and practice of self-awareness in psychiatric nursing Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services 39 32 40
30. Ellingson LL. 1998 'Then you know how I feel': Empathy, identification, and reflexivity in fieldwork Qualitative Inquiry 1 492 508
31. Ellis C. 1995 Final Negotiations: A Story of Love, Loss, and Chronic Illness Philadelphia Temple University Press
32. Ellis C. 1998 What counts as scholarship in communication? An authoethnographic response Amercian Communication Journal 1 1 5
33. Ellis C. 1999 Heartful autoethnography Qualitative Health Research 9 669 683
34. Ellis C. 2004 The Ethnographic I: A Methodological Novel about Autoethnography Walnut Creek Altamira.
35. Ellis C. Berger L. 2002 Their story/my story/our story: Including the researcher's experience in interview research In Gubrium JF. Holstein JA. (Eds) Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method ( 849 875 Thousand Oaks Sage Publications
36. Ellis C. Bochner A. 1992 Telling and performing personal stories: The constraints of choice in abortion In Ellis C. Flaherty M. (Eds) Investigating Subjectivity: Research on Lived Experience ( 79 101 Newbury Park Sage
37. Ellis C. Bochner AP. 2000 Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject In Denzin NK. Lincoln YS. (Eds) Handbook of Qualitative Research 2nd edn ( 733 768 Thousand Oaks Sage Publications
38. Etherington K. 2004 Becoming a Reflexive Researcher: Using Our Selves in Research London Jessica Kingsley Publishers
39. Foley DE. 2002 Critical ethnography: The reflexive turn Qualitative Studies in Education 15 469 490
40. Foster K. 2001 Mental Health/Psychiatric Nurse and Adult Child of a Parent with a Psychotic Disorder: A Unique Insight Proceedings of the 27th International Conference of the Australian and New Zealand College Of Mental Health Nurses (ANZCMHN), Melbourne, 1-5 October 2001.
41. Frank AW. 1991 At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness Boston Houghton Miflin
42. Gadow S. 2000 I felt an island rising: Interpretive inquiry as motet Nursing Inquiry 7 209 214
43. Gallop R. O'Brien L. 2003 Re-establishing psychodynamic theory as foundational knowledge for psychiatric/mental health nursing Issues in Mental Health Nursing 24 213 227
44. Graham IW. 2001 Seeking a clarification of meaning: A phenomenological interpretation of the craft of mental health nursing Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 8 335 345
45. Halley J. 2003 To speak of my mother Qualitative Inquiry 9 49 56
46. Holt N. 2003 Representation, legitimation, and autoethnography: An autoethnographic writing story International Journal of Qualitative Methods 2 1 22
47. Horberg U. Brunt D. Axelsson A. 2004 Clients' perceptions of nurse-client relationships in local authority psychiatric services: A qualitative study International Journal of Mental Health Nursing 13 9 17
48. Hostick T. McClelland F. 2000 'Partnership': A co-operative inquiry between community mental health nurses and their clients. 1. Research methodology, process and reflections Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 7 307 313
49. Johnstone MJ. 1999 Reflective topical autobiography: An under utilised interpretive research method in nursing Collegian 6 24 29
50. Jones J. Borbasi S. 2003 Interpretive research: Weaving a phenomenological text In Clare J. Hamilton H. (Eds) Writing Research: Transforming Data into Text ( 85 101 Edinburgh Churchill Livingstone
51. Kawalilak C. Dudley NQ. 2002 ). Autoethnography: A meta-perspective that promotes wellness and meaning-making from lived experience. Paper presented at the Linking Research to Educational Practice II, University of Calgary, 5-17 July 2002.
52. Koch T. 1998 Story telling: Is it really research? Journal of Advanced Nursing 28 1182 1190
53. McAllister M. 2001 In harm's way: A postmodern narrative inquiry Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 8 391 397
54. Morse J. 2002 Writing my own experience Qualitative Health Research 12 1159 1160
55. Muncey T. 2005 Doing autoethnography International Journal of Qualitative Methods 4 Article 5. [Cited 4 Apr 2005]. Available from: URL:
56. Okely J. 1992 Anthropology and autobiography: Participatory experience and embodied knowledge In Okely J. Callaway H. (Eds) Anthropology and Autobiography ( 1 28 London Routledge
57. Olson T. 2002 From clinician to client: The lived experience of mental illness Issues in Mental Health Nursing 23 435 444
58. Reed-Danahay DE. (Ed.) 1997 Auto/Ethnography: Rewriting the Self and the Social Oxford Berg.
59. Richardson L. 1994 Writing: A method of inquiry In Denzin NK. Lincoln YS. (Eds) Handbook of Qualitative Research ( 516 529 Thousand Oaks Sage Publications
60. Sparkes A. 2000 Autoethnography and narratives of self: Reflections on criteria in action Sociology of Sport Journal 17 21 43
61. Tierney WG. 1998 Life history's history: Subjects foretold Qualitative Inquiry 4 49 71
62. Vickers MH. 2002 Researchers as storytellers: Writing on the edge-and without a safety net Qualitative Inquiry 8 608 621
63. White S. 2003 Autoethnography: An appropriate methodology? Qualitative Research Journal 3 22 32
64. Wilkins R. 1993 Taking it personally: A note on emotion and autobiography Sociology 27 93 101