RESULTADOS DEL PERÍODO

Having gained the views of staff around identifying anxiety problems in school the researcher felt it was imperative to gain the pupils’ views around this issue. This process of triangulation is endorsed in qualitative design in order to try to capture the multiple perspectives of a given phenomenon (Robson, 2011). A group of pupils from Year 11 had already been identified who were involved in the anxiety intervention group that the researcher had been involved in developing. These girls had been identified by the school as being anxious, hence their invitation to be involved in the anxiety intervention. The table below provides information on how they came to the school’s attention. Information about the research was provided and consent obtained (see Appendices D-G for parent and pupil information letters and consent forms).

Table 3: Table indicating identification of pupils in the anxiety group

Pupil participants from the anxiety group

Method by which pupils were identified by school (as reported by the nurture assistant running

anxiety intervention)

1 School notified by parents that she was prone to

anxiety and particularly struggled with tests and exam times; the nurture assistant reported that she was not a girl who had come to the attention of school for being anxious

2 Becomes easily ‘wound up’ and is reported to be

quite vocal about struggling with feeling anxious; it is reported she can be quite rude to teachers in school 3 She came to the attention of the school because of

avoidance behaviours including missing certain lessons

The researcher was interested in ascertaining if there were qualitative differences between the responses from these girls who had been identified as having anxiety problems compared with a group of girls who were perceived by the school to not have anxiety problems. Consequently, a group of Year 11 participants who were perceived to not have anxiety problems were recruited via the process below:

3.5.1. Participants and sampling procedure

• The deputy head provided verbal information to Year 11 pupils around the project and asked for volunteers. For girls that expressed an interest, further written information was provided and consent obtained. (See Appendices C-G for parent and pupil information letters and consent forms.)

• The deputy head organised for four Year 11 volunteers, who were not known by the school to have anxiety problems, to attend the group interview. The final selection was ultimately decided by the deputy head consulting the girls’ timetables and the time scheduled for the group interview to ensure the least disruption to learning. Four pupils were involved; this number was selected to provide sufficient, dynamic conversation but also to allow for the quantity of information obtained to be manageable.

Given this selection procedure, the researcher acknowledges that the selection of the Year 11 pupils was not random given the voluntary nature of being involved and the deputy head’s final selection of girls to be involved.

3.5.1.1. Interview schedule

The interview schedule that was used to structure the pupil group interview was informed by the findings in Phase 1 (see Appendix J) in order to gain the pupils’ perspectives on the assertions that staff made in phase 1. The staff interviews revealed school pastoral systems including the student support centre where

girls could drop in if they had an issue and wanted help. They also discussed various school initiatives that staff purported were in place to support wellbeing and promote resilience, including topical assemblies and using a growth mindset (see Appendix P for definition). Consequently, questions were included in the pupil interview schedule to explore pupils’ perceptions of these and how effective they felt they were. In addition, questions were included to establish the pupils’ perspectives on seeking help at school and to explore the coping strategies they found useful. The interview schedule was piloted with the researcher’s own adolescent children (aged 13 and 15), as, although the relationship between interview and interviewee is very different, the researcher felt they would give an honest young person’s perspective on how the questions came across. Minor amendments to the language were made accordingly. As in Phase 1, the interview schedules acted as a prompt and reminder to the researcher to ensure the key points were covered but also promoted an organic and rich discussion.

3.5.1.2. Procedure for all group interviews and individual interviews

Prior to data collection: Recruitment of participants and organisation of a suitable time and date to conduct the individual interviews/group interviews was established via email communication with the deputy head and administrative staff.

Preparation on the day: The room was set up appropriately so all participants could be comfortably seated around a round table. Refreshments were offered and made available so participants could help themselves.

The following points were covered before the interviews began:

• The researcher checked all participants had read the information sheet and signed the consent forms. The researcher also reminded the participants verbally that their participation was entirely voluntary and they were free to withdraw at any time.

• The researcher’s interest in understanding participants’ own thoughts on the topic, with no right or wrong answers, was re-emphasised.

• In the case of the group interviews a reminder was provided about the researcher being interested in gaining all the participants’ ideas and having a rich discussion.

• The participants were informed they would receive a summary of the research findings after it had been written up.

• The researcher checked if there were any questions before starting.

3.5.2. Research tools

Two iPads with recording apps were used to record each individual interview and the group interviews. This allowed for all participants to be clearly heard. A sound check was also carried out.