Bradshaw (an example of a case study)

Question 1

AO1- Aim

Answer 1

To see if CBT was effective treatment for Schizophrenia in an Atypical case of a woman with schizophrenia

Question 2

AO1- Method

Answer 2

• Case study of Carol 26 years old at the start, Atypical for Sz first in family and young for a woman…delusions, hallucinations 30/100 on global functioning
• Studied for three years whilst undergoing CBT
• First stage she was building a rapport with the therapist
• Second stage she was understanding how CBT would work for her and her Sz (ABC model)
• Third (longest stage) was her undergoing CBT. Managing stress, challenging her thoughts, increasing activities…practicing this in the real world and the final 3 months her going without therapy sessions
• Various measurements of her (at beginning, end, 6m later, 1 year later) i.e. global functioning, how well she met her targets i.e. finding a job, symptom severity and number of hospitalisations

Question 3

AO1- Results

Answer 3

• At the conclusion of the study there were few symptoms and Carol reported little distress. After 1 year, RFS was stable at 27 (she had scored 6 at the start).
• At the end of the study, Carol’s GPI score of 1 indicated there were few symptoms present and she reported little distress.
• GAS increased from 19.85 to 80.15, which shows that treatment goals had been attained. Goals included starting a college course, taking on a volunteer job and going out once a week with friends.
• Days in hospital (in the previous 3 months) dropped from 60 to 0 and maintained that throughout the follow up period

Question 4

+AO3- Longitudinal

Answer 4

Shows development and change about her functioning (so gains depth and understanding)

Question 5

+AO3- Data

Answer 5

Lots of data gathered

Qualitative data is in-depth, rich and detailed (can get loads of info)

Quantitative data also gained which can be analysed more easily/objectively and can be statistically analysed

Triangulation of data (various methods being used allows them to be used to check each other and gain validity)

Question 6

+AO3- Useful

Answer 6

It showed that the CBT was an effective one for Schizophrenia and Carol saw the benefits

Question 7

-AO3- Repeatabilty

Answer 7

Difficult to repeat as they take a long time to conduct (and can’t redo the unique situation)

Question 8

-AO3- Un-generalisable

Answer 8

They are on small unique samples which might not apply to others (just one Atypical case)

Question 9

-AO3- extraneous variables

Answer 9

Case studies are typically naturally occurring circumstances that may affect validity