Videotaped recording as a method of participant observation in psychiatricnursing research

This paper describes videotaped recording as a data collection method when conducting participant observation in a psychiatric nursing study. The vide otaped episodes were part of the daily life of psychiatric nursing in a hos pital environment. The advantages and limitations of using videotaped recor ding in nursing research will be discussed. This paper is based on two stud ies. The data consisted of 21 videotaped episodes of nursing report session s or interdisciplinary team meetings in the psychiatric clinic of a univers ity hospital. The participants consisted of patients, their significant oth ers, nurses, doctors, social workers and physiotherapists. All videotaped m aterial was transcribed verbatim. An essential advantage of videotaping is that most potentially useful interaction and behaviour can be captured. The advantage in terms of the credibility of videotaping was that the investig ator was able to review the same videotaped situations again and again. Vid eotaped material is rich and provides several possibilities for analysing t he data. In these studies data and source triangulation enabled the researc hers to reduce personal influence on the results. The investigator must als o be aware of the limitations concerning this method. The most essential li mitations are mechanical problems and the influence of videotaping on behav iour. Careful ethical considerations are important concerning personal priv acy, informed consent and respect for the self-determination of psychiatric patients.