A further dimension of this justification emerged in discussion of some students’ willingness to share their own experiences. Some lecturers explained how students had been very keen to tell the class about their own mental health issues. For the students concerned, this afforded the opportunity to act as an and to share the importance of raising ‘ambassador’ awareness and dispelling myths and misconceptions: I had probably three or four students come up to me at the end of the lecture and one of them said yeah I’ve had an eating disorder for a long time actually, you know, and I was thinking Um, but she was, you know, she was comfortable “Oooh! Crap!” (Helen) talking about it in front of her peers. One student was happy to talk about her experience of panic attacks and then another student kind of highlighted how it was different for them so I think that’s quite good cos it, it brings that kind of individual had it before where somebody level….I’ve who has had an eating disorder in the past wanted to do more because she felt that, um, quite often what is written in text books really capture what it feels like to doesn’t (Lisa) have the illness. There was also a recognition within narratives that many of the topics we participants’ might define as sensitive are also those which students are most interested in, and so represents an important part of their psychology education: And you know as I say something which drew a lot of students to partly it’s… it’s study psychology so they’re hungry for information and understanding - Even if it’s (Penny) difficult or challenging for them to think about.
A further dimension of this justification emerged in discussion of some students’ willingness to share their own experiences. Some lecturers explained how students had been very keen to tell the class about their own mental health issues. For the students concerned, this afforded the opportunity to act as an ‘ambassador’ and to share the importance of raising awareness and dispelling myths and misconceptions: I had probably three or four students come up to me at the end of the lecture and one of them said yeah I’ve had an eating disorder for a long time actually, you know, and I was thinking “Oooh! Crap!” Um, but she was, you know, she was comfortable talking about it in front of her peers. (Helen) One student was happy to talk about her experience of panic attacks and then another student kind of highlighted how it was different for them so I think that’s quite good cos it, it brings that kind of individual level….I’ve had it before where somebody who has had an eating disorder in the past wanted to do more because she felt that, um, quite often what is written in text books doesn’t really capture what it feels like to have the illness. (Lisa) There was also a recognition within participants’ narratives that many of the topics we might define as sensitive are also those which students are most interested in, and so represents an important part of their psychology education: And partly it’s… you know it’s as I say something which drew a lot of students to study psychology so they’re hungry for information and understanding - Even if it’s difficult or challenging for them to think about. (Penny)
Winstone_Kinchin_PTR.docx