Hope
Hope is the ability to envision a life in which we wish to participate
(Edey & Jevne, 2003). Hope may be a valuable resource for many chronic
health issues. Some studies provide evidence that hope acts as a buffer
to stress and may enhance coping abilities for those with and without
health issues (Hill & Fuedner, 2018; Rasmussen, O’Byrne, Vandament &
Cole, 2018). Additionally, theory and research on hope suggests that it
is a learnable skill, an ability and a resource that can be promoted in
therapy contexts (Edey & Jevne, 2003; Larsen et al., 2007). For PWP,
the journey of living with PD can be arduous and rife with uncertainty
(Peek, 2017; Phillips, 2006). Hope-focused psychotherapy may be a
promising new avenue of psychotherapeutic intervention. Hope focused
psychotherapy utilizes an intentional hope and strength focus with an
aim to people build new self-understanding beyond their diagnosis (Edey
et al., 2016). Recently, there has been increased effort dedicated to
examining the outcomes associated with group-based, hope-focused therapy
(Howell et al., 2015; Murdoch et al., 2020) while other studies have
highlighted the client experience with these individual interventions
and programs (Larsen et al., 2018; Larsen et al., 2015).
SHARP-PWP is a hope focused therapy group designed for people recently
diagnosed with PD. SHARP-PWP grew out of a previous group program for
people with chronic pain (Edey et al., 2016). The intention of the
original program, entitled “Being Hopeful in the Face of Chronic
Pain”, was to enhance emotional well-being and hope in those with
chronic pain. Delivered in six, two-hour sessions over two weeks, the
program was aimed at helping participants to increase well-being and
hope, build strength-based narratives, and empower participants to cope
with pain-related difficulties (Edey et al., 2016). In a naturalistic
study, Howell and colleagues (2015) found that participants enrolled in
this program experienced increases in well-being, pain acceptance, and
hope along with decreases in negative pain-related cognitions.
With promising initial evidence in a sample of individuals with chronic
pain, the program was then adapted for use in people with PD. This
program, entitled SHARP-PWP, is similar to the chronic pain group in
several ways. The program itself was composed of six, two-hour weekly
sessions designed for use with individuals diagnosed with PD within the
last 5 years. Initial research on SHARP-PWP used a mixed method,
randomized controlled trial. The quantitative results showed that
clients in both the treatment (N = 15) and the waitlist groups (N = 16)
experienced increases in well-being and health-related quality of life
and increased hope at follow up (Murdoch et al., 2020). The findings for
this study were discussed with an emphasis on the possible role that
feelings of anticipation and expectation may play in the improvements
reported by waitlist participants in this study (Murdoch et al., 2020;
Shin et al., 2016).
In the context of efficacy research, especially randomized controlled
trials, there is evidence to suggest that collecting in-depth
qualitative data can offer several benefits in health research (Flemming
et al., 2008). Offering more insight into our data, 15 participants from
the trial above were interviewed to discuss the group. Qualitative
findings suggested several potentially important outcomes (Murdoch et
al., 2020) and processes identified by participants. The current study
focuses further on group processes, specifically experiences
participants describe as important and helpful when taking part in the
SHARP-PWP . Throughout the paper, the term research participantsor participants will be used to refer to group members,(i.e., patients/clients ).