Qualitative study of posttraumatic growth: free or driven interview?

In agreement with the need to fill the lack of qualitative studies on post-traumatic growth (PTG) (Hefferon et al., 2009) and consistent with Emslie (2005), the complexity and richness of the PTG in adversity can be better understood through a qualitative approach. The aim of this research is to understand how you have to use the interview to obtain deep information on the growth process. To meet this objective free and driven interviews (N=27 liver transplant patients) has been compared. The responses were analyzed using McAdams’ redemption coding system (2001). The responses to the stimulus free show less presence of sequences of redemption (M=0,96; SD=1,32) than the responses to the stimulus driven (M=8,33; SD=4,62). In addition, the responses to the stimulus free show a prevalence of sequences of recovery (M=0,56; SD=0,80), while the responses to the guided interviews show a prevalence of sequences of growth (M=2,93; SD=1,96)