Several key things have become apparent over the past few interviews.  I have now learnt not to turn the audio recorder off as soon as I have thanked my interviewee for participating and sharing their story about depression; it seems that every time, as I stress the confidentiality aspects and anonymity of the data, they seem to then go on and continue to talk about their depression experience and if I turn the audio recorder off too soon then that data is lost.  I now turn the recorder off at the very last minute so as not to lose any valuable data; once the interviewee starts to talk and share their story they seem to want to continue and think of more things to say.  I do make it clear to the interviewee that I am now turning the recorder off so they do know they have been recorded at all times.  I also always inform them again at the end of the interview that they can listen to the recording, I also ask them to confirm they are happy for me to transcribe the recording in full.

The interviewees clearly prepare themselves for their interview - they consider their explanation of what caused their depression, what it means to them and the effect it has (has had) on them; my awareness of this fact has made me realise the importance of my obligation to the interviewee to ensure the interview continues as planned i.e. the day as prearranged etc. as they have clearly prepared themselves for it and it is not an arrangement that can be lightly changed for convenience.

Therapeutic talking about life issues as the cause of depression was clearly demonstrated in a recent interview - the interviewee clearly linked life events to past and current depression but I was unable to perpetuate any conversation of depth or length about depression per se.  The interviewee had a need to talk about events, family, colleagues/neighbours and was impossible to deviate from that line of conversation. To abruptly curtail the discussion would (I felt) have been discourteous and neglectful of the need to talk.......so could I have managed the interview differently?  I really do not know, but I think not.  I need to reflect upon how I can manage a long interview (3 hours) in the future in a different way; perhaps I should simply accept that within my role as researcher I have been able to provide a respondent with the opportunity to share feelings and experiences that are clearly not normally discussed in open forum?  Does my responsibility as researcher extend beyond the role of data collection?  I think it probably does as the interviewee knows me as clinician as well as a researcher.