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Current research and clinical practice in person-centred approaches highlight the importance of self, identity, and personal meanings in psychosis. Previous research has focused on dimensions of self, but less attention has been paid to the personal meanings involved in identity. The personal construct theory framework and the repertory grid technique (RGT) allow the study of identity and personal meanings within person-centred approaches of psychopathology and treatment in psychosis, as suggested by studies that began more than 40 years ago. However, their contributions have not yet been reviewed. We aimed to systematically review the evidence for the role of identity and personal meanings in psychotic disorders. We performed a systematic search using personal construct and RGT terms in PsycINFO, Web of Science, PubMed, EBSCO, Scopus, and Google Scholar. After identifying 2,574 articles, 15 were included. Nine studies followed an idiographic assessment, and six were nomothetic. Patients reported their subjective experience of isolation in terms of high self-ideal discrepancy and high perceived discrepancy with their significant others, which some studies associated with a lower degree of recovery or with the way in which positive symptoms were construed. Self-fragmentation either decreased with interventions or was associated with recovery. Evidence regarding interpersonal construing was less consistent, but there was a tendency for patients to show a more rigid cognitive structure than controls. To conclude, we found some evidence that self-discrepancies, fragmentation of self, and interpersonal construing are affected in psychosis and potentially modifiable through psychotherapy.

The repertory grid technique was used to explore how 26 third-year trainee clinical psychologists construed their personal and professional selves over the course of training and into the future. Each trainee completed a demographic questionnaire and a repertory grid with 10 elements: four ‘personal self’ elements, four ‘professional self’ elements and two ‘qualified clinical psychologist’ elements. They then rated the 10 elements on 10 bipolar constructs of their choosing. Trainees' personal and professional selves were construed to be similar to each other. Trainees had low self-esteem and reported currently feeling anxious, stressed, unsettled and lacking an appropriate work–life balance. These difficulties were attributed to the demands of training and were expected to resolve once training was completed with future selves being construed as similar to ideal selves. Suggestions for future research with improved methodology are made, and the implications of the findings for trainees, training providers and employers of newly qualified clinical psychologists are given. The overall implication being that stress in training is normative and the profession has a duty to normalize this and ensure that self-care and personal development are recognized as core competencies of the clinical psychologist for the benefit of its members and their clients.

Objective To explore the construal of midwives by pregnant women with a body mass index greater than 30 kg/m2 (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). Method Ten pregnant women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 were recruited from antenatal clinics at a maternity hospital in the North West of England. Each participant completed a repertory grid. The participants chose people to match roles including themselves, pregnant women, midwives of different BMIs and hypothetical elements. They also generated psychological constructs to describe them. Results Pregnant women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 construed themselves as vulnerable and self-conscious. Some women endorsed obesity-related stereotypes for themselves and felt responsible for their weight. The midwife with a BMI 18

Background: Government strategy indicates that individuals with learning disabilities should have access to adapted psychological therapies. Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is recommended for the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD); however, there is little published research regarding whether it can be appropriately adapted for adults with learning disabilities. The research available primarily focuses on measures of behavioural and psychiatric change, with little emphasis on the psychological changes that occur. Materials and Methods: Two case studies are presented that using repertory grid technique, based on personal construct psychology (PCP). Both individuals completed repertory grids prior to, and following, adapted DBT for adults with learning disabilities within a specialist community psychology service in the United Kingdom. Results: The case studies show some of the psychological changes that have occurred within adults with learning disabilities who received adapted DBT within a community psychology service. Changes included altered self-esteem and dilemmas individuals have about themselves. Conclusion: The contrasting case studies demonstrate the complexity and idiosyncrasy of the experiences of individuals with learning disabilities who receive DBT, and discuss how this information can be integrated into clinical practice.

Keywords:Mental Health;Mothers;Mother and Baby Unit;Repertory Grid;Staff AttitudesBackground: This study explored the attitudes of psychiatric nursing staff towards mothers with mental health difficulties. Working with mothers experiencing mental health problems can evoke negative reactions in staff that activate value-laden beliefs regarding the capacity of these women to care for their infants, which could diminish the provision of optimal care and treatment for patients. Method: Ten psychiatric nursing staff working in a specialist mother and baby unit in the North of England were interviewed about their views of various types of client by using the repertory grid technique. Findings: A total of 86 constructs that clustered under 21 headings were elicited. All staff made critical judgements about some clients. Staff often described the context in which these perceptions were reached such as the behaviour of clients and the quality of the nurse?client relationship. Conclusions: Clients with a personality disorder and those who were thought to be ?bad? mothers were construed as being furthest from the self and more negatively than clients with depression or psychosis. Further training is indicated for staff working with mothers displaying challenging interactional styles; however, training packages must consider the individuality of perception and experience present within staff groups. Copyright � 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message Staff attributions and clients' interactional style influence the staff's ability to develop positive relationships with their clients. Clients labelled as having a personality disorder were differentially construed in a more negative manner than clients with depression or psychosis. Clinical supervision could help staff to manage challenging experiences with clients in an inpatient ward environment.

Background/aim: The aim of this paper is to describe the use of a structured interview methodology, the repertory grid technique, for investigating the clinical reasoning of an experienced occupational therapist in the domain of upper limb hypertonia as a result of brain injury. Method: Repertory grid interviews were completed before and after exposure to a protocol designed to guide clinical reasoning and decision-making in relation to upper limb neurological rehabilitation. Data were subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Results: Qualitative analysis focussed on clinical reasoning content. Common themes across the pre- and post-exposure interviews were the use of theoretical frameworks and practice models, the significance of clinical expertise, and discrimination of 'broad' and 'specific' aspects, as well as differentiation between 'therapist and client-related' aspects of the clinical situation. Quantitative analysis indicated that for both pre- and post-exposure repertory grids, clinical reasoning was structured in terms of two main concepts. In the pre-exposure grid, these were related to the therapist's role, and to the 'scope' of practice tasks (either broad or specific). In the post-exposure grid the two main concepts were upper limb performance, and client-centred aspects of the therapy process. Conclusions: The repertory grid technique is proposed as an effective tool for exploring occupational therapy clinical reasoning, based on its capacity for accessing personal frames of reference, and elucidating both the meaning and the structure supporting clinical reasoning. © Journal compilation

An information system is typically developed by a team of information systems (IS) professionals. Research shows that teams staffed with the right people are more likely to be effective and efficient. There is a paucity of study that examines the important traits of IS professionals in team contexts. The objective of this research is to identify and understand the important characteristics of good team members in software development projects. We applied an established psychological technique (Repertory Grid) to guide our interviews with 21 experienced IS professionals, who have had extensive experience in software development teams. The comprehensive list of important characteristics was analysed qualitatively using open coding method of grounded theory. Fifty-nine unique characteristics were identified and classified into eight categories. Among them, attitude/motivation, knowledge, interpersonal/communication skills, and working/cognitive ability were perceived by research participants to be the most important categories. Our study provides a context-specific (i.e. software development team) evaluation of important characteristics of IS professionals. The results have significant implications for IS recruiting, IS training, IS staffing, and IS human resource management. Our study also supplements the research on management of IS development teams.

Although effective project management is critical to the success of information technology (IT) projects, little empirical research has investigated skill requirements for IT project managers (PMs). This study addressed this gap by asking 19 practicing IT PMs to describe the skills that successful IT PMs exhibit. A semi-structured interview method known as the repertory grid (RepGrid) technique was used to elicit these skills. Nine skill categories emerged: client management, communication, general management, leadership, personal integrity, planning and control, problem solving, systems development and team development. Our study complements existing research by providing a richer understanding of several skills that were narrowly defined (client management, planning and control, and problem solving) and by introducing two new skill categories that had not been previously discussed (personal integrity and team development). Analysis of the individual RepGrids revealed four distinct ways in which study participants combined skill categories to form archetypes of effective IT PMs. We describe these four IT PM archetypes – General Manager, Problem Solver, Client Representative and Balanced Manager – and discuss how this knowledge can be useful for practitioners, researchers and educators. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.

AIM: This paper reports a study exploring how individual psychiatric staff construes clients with psychosis who misuse substances. BACKGROUND: A dual diagnosis of substance misuse is common in clients with psychosis. Previous studies have suggested that psychiatric staff feel ill-equipped to work with these clients, and hold negative views of them, affecting client care and recovery. Understanding staff attitudes can inform training and practice. METHOD: Twelve psychiatric nursing staff working in an inpatient service for adults with enduring mental health difficulties in England were interviewed. Using a repertory grid technique, staff were asked to describe clients and acquaintances who did and did not misuse substances, themselves and colleagues. FINDINGS: All staff made critical judgements of some clients, particularly clients with dual diagnosis, but were less judgemental towards acquaintances who misused substances. Staff who used fewer dimensions to construe people appeared to make a clear distinction between clients and non-clients. This distinction was not apparent for staff with more cognitively complex construct systems. Specific factors that could be implicated in the organization of individuals' construct systems included personal experience of services as a carer; these staff made less distinction between clients and non-clients. CONCLUSION: Further training is needed for staff working with clients with a dual diagnosis. Training packages need to consider the personal experiences and views of staff. Reducing the boundaries between staff and clients might enable staff to better understand the actions of clients and improve client care.

Summary Twenty subjects were used to investigate the contexts in which they typically consumed a range of alcoholic beverages. Contexts were elicited using the repertory grid method, and five principal components were found to describe the perceptual dimensions common to most people. The poles of these dimensions are summarily interpreted as: thirstquenching vs. not; formal meal vs. social drinking environment; before meals vs. after meals; in a pub vs. outside a pub; consumed neat vs. mixed. The ways in which this information can be used to develop marketing strategies and influence product development are discussed.

Summary The contexts in which 20 consumers typically consumed a range of 17 canned lagers were investigated using the repertory grid method, and three principal axes were found to describe the perceptual dimensions common to most people. Super-strength and premium canned lagers were considered more self-indulgent, whilst ordinary lagers were considered more appropriate for refreshment. Premium canned lagers were considered appropriate for drinking away from the home, whilst super-strength canned lagers are more typically drunk at home. The investigation demonstrates the use of this method to identify contrasting contexts of use in a narrow range of highly branded products, and provides information which has implications for advertising and marketing.

To explore how consumers perceive novel and familiar fruit, repertory grid interviews were carried out with 60 New Zealand women. Participants described their perceptions of nine fruit varying in familiarity. The data analysis established a two-dimensional stimuli space that separated samples with respect to familiarity and the amount of preparation required. Fruit that was familiar was characterised as being well liked, easily available in shops and by a number of different use situations. The primary association with novel fruit was that it was expensive. The participants could not readily think of use situations for fruit they were unfamiliar with. Consumers were separated into groups according to the trait of food neophobia, which pertains to an individual's stable propensity to approach or avoid novel foods. When comparing the most neophobic (n = 14; avoids novel foods) and most neophilic (n = 14; approaches novel foods), individuals perceptual differences were uncovered pertaining to which of the fruit were considered novel and to the suitability of some usage situations (cooking and for children). This finding contributed to the growing evidence of the relationship between food neophobia and consumers' everyday food-related behaviour. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate and evaluate the use of repertory grid analysis (RGA) in the context of a study of destination brand images. The study explored the components of destination brand image from a business tourism perspective. RGA was used to identify the constructs used by events managers in a sample of 25 UK organisations to characterise the brand images of 15 UK towns and cities. The study identified eight categories of brand image attribute. Factor analysis reduced these to three higher level dimensions, an overall destination attractiveness dimension and two sub-dimensions: functionality and ambience. The paper concludes with a discussion of the benefits and limitations of RGA as a technique for measuring destination brand images and argues that it offers significant advantages over alternative techniques with regard to image measurement. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications

To appropriately prepare informed citizens, science education must improve scientific literacy, which includes public understanding of science. Therefore, students' perceptions of science is considered a fruitful area of research. This kind of investigation should elicit the images of science that students are likely to hold when they enter the science classroom. The main aims of the present investigation are: (i) to explore the perceptions held by a university geology instructor and five students of the images of the geosciences, before and after the teaching intervention; (ii) to claim that the repertory grid technique is a powerful tool to assess people's actual epistemological dimensions beyond any conceptual framework constructed by experts; and (iii) to argue that the societal aims of geological (science) education must be specifically targeted within a constructivist framework. The subjects were five first-year undergraduates of the geography degree course and their geology instructor. This investigation uses the repertory grid technique, the tool envisaged by George Kelly to elicit people's personal constructs according to his theoretical framework known as “personal construct psychology.” The elicitation of constructs took place at the beginning and at the end of the academic year. Principal component analysis was used to determine the teacher's and students' constructs with the highest epistemological value; that is, the constructs that most affect students' perception and interpretation of the geosciences. The findings indicate that some stereotyped images of science appear, with a characteristic antithesis between physics (considered objective and rigorous) and the geosciences (seen as subjective and approximate). Beyond this, little concern for societal issues inherent within the geosciences emerged as a significant conceptual dimension from individuals' construct systems. These results seem to indicate that this methodology gives insights into students' everyday ontology and epistemology, and therefore can be used to guide teaching interventions relevant for adequate scientific literacy. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed83:675–700, 1999.

This paper outlines a theoretical framework that was created as a result of an investigation into the feelings graduate nurses have towards clinical practice. The framework offers an explanation of the complexity of emotions which need to be considered when considering why it is that people react in the way they do to their environment. The study from which this framework emerged was a repertory grid analysis of six graduates from an English university in their first year of practice. From the elicited constructs six themes emerged: feelings related to connectedness; feelings related to job satisfaction; feelings related to effectiveness; feelings related to ability; feelings related to threat to self; and feelings related to pressure of work.

This article discusses the application of repertory grid technique to career counseling. The clients supplied and rated jobs, work or nonwork roles, on a series of individually selected personal constructs, elicited by noting similarities and differences between elements. Results obtained allowed clients to explore personal meanings attributed to the jobs or roles by examining the relationships between elements and constructs. The flexible, comprehensive, and highly individualized nature of repertory grid technique makes it possible for the counselor to enter more readily into the client's frame of reference and assists the client to make sense of past and present experiences as a basis for future career planning and decision making.

Free-choice profiling has been used to collect descriptive sensory data from both trained and untrained assessors, though untrained assessors may have difficulty in generating sufficient and adequate descriptors. The more structured repertory grid method has been used as an alternative procedure, and is thought to help assessors in vocabulary development. To compare these two procedures, panels of assessors used them to describe the sensory properties of 25 ciders. Generalized Procrustes analyses of the two data sets provided broadly similar results, but the repertory grid method yielded more descriptors and interpretation of the resulting product space was slightly easier. However, the repertory grid method took slightly longer to carry out, and it was concluded that neither method was clearly superior.

In building a knowledge-based system, it is sometimes possible to save time by applying some machine learning process to a set of historical cases. In some problem domains, however, such cases may not be available. In addition, the classes, attributes and attribute values that comprise the partial domain model in terms of which cases are expressed may also not be available explicitly. In these circumstances, the repertory grid technique offers a single process for both building a partial domain model and generating a training set of examples. Alternatively, examples can be elicited directly. This paper explores the relationship between knowledge acquisition from examples and the repertory grid technique, and discusses the shared need for machine learning. Fragments of business-strategy knowledge are used to illustrate the discussion.

Traditional repertory grid studies of construct system organization have assumed that measures of organization derived from the construing of others are equivalent to measures derived from the construing of self. They also have assumed that constructs generated around the construing of others can be used to construe the self. Finally, they have assumed that the self is a unitary concept that does not vary across contexts. This study provides some empirical data on these assumptions by comparing the construction of self and others on repertory grids. Only moderate correlations between the organization of self and others were found on grid measures of construct independence and construct integration. Higher relationships were found on measures of construct system meaningfulness and the constructed use of categories. The implications of these data for repertory grid research are discussed.

The extrapolation of theories of cognitive modeling from psychological contexts to the domain of information systems design has raised empirical questions regarding the validity and reliability of these techniques in the new applications environment. Kelly's (1955) theory of personal construct psychology (PCP) is one such theory which, together with the repertory grid technique of cognitive modeling, is being explored for use in systems development. Since the repertory grid constitutes a mechanism for both the elicitation and the representation of cognitive models, it has been suggested for incorporation into intelligent front-end interfaces for information storage and retrieval systems (ISRS). Previous applications of the grid have emphasized the personal and ideographic characteristics of personal construct systems. New applications in information systems design require verification of the grid's utility and reliability for rendering faithful representations of impersonal and communal knowledge. The research presented here provides a test of the repertory grid for representing commonality of construing among members of a homogenous group of subjects. Commonality of construing is demonstrated on two sets of constructs. Some differences are observed between constructs generated by the subjects and those provided for them by an “expert.” Implications of this effect for the application of PCP to ISRS design are discussed. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Summary • Repertory grids were completed by gerontological nurses (N= 60) to elicit the personal constructs they used to characterize gerontological nurses, effective gerontological nurses and the extent to which participants believed themselves to be effective as nurses working in this specialist field. • Analysis of pooled repertory grids indicated that the personal construct ‘caring, compassionate, empathetic’ was rated most highly as characteristic of gerontological nurses in general and of effective gerontological nurses. • Cluster analysis of individual repertory grids showed no significant difference between self-perceptions of participants as effective gerontological nurses and the ideal gerontological nurses they would like to become. • Other findings of this research indicate that a variety of aspects of gerontological nursing need improvement if negative perceptions of this area of nursing practice are to be altered.

The reproducibility of a repertory grid for the evaluation of fabric handle was investigated by means of consumer responses to a series of fabrics. The consumer panel evaluated the same fabrics on three separate occasions. On the first and third occasion, the fabrics were seen and on the second occasion unseen. Correlations at high levels of significance were generally found between results obtained on each occasion. This was particularly true of the two seen tests.

"Natillas" are semisolid dairy desserts widely consumed in Spain, with notable differences existing between commercial brands in their composition and sensory and physical properties. The repertory grid method, in conjunction with the free choice profile (FCP), was used to provide data on how consumers perceived eight commercial "natillas " samples. The most frequent terms used were: vanilla flavor, sweetness, consistency and liquid texture as described by 77, 67, 57 and 53% of the consumers, respectively. A three-dimensional solution was chosen. Dimension I accounted for 27.23% of variance and separated the samples largely by yellow-color intensity and consistency. Dimension 2 (15.88%) was mainly related to the visual attributes of texture, creaminess and different notes of flavor. The third dimension (11.34%) was related to structural-texture attributes, orange-yellow color and acid and artificial flavors. The assessors plot showed two clusters. Analysis of each group data revealed differences in their perception of sample variation, mainly regarding texture and color.

The ‘repertory grid’ and the ‘implication grid’ techniques are compared using criteria based on an indirect measure of construct matching scores. The implication grid proved superior to the repertory grid under conditions designed to compare stability of matching scores and under conditions designed to compare sensitivity to subjects' changes in construing. The significance of a further result, that the implication grid was superior for reflecting construct bipolarity, is considered in the light of conceptual problems with an assumption of bipolarity. The set of results is especially noteworthy since ‘indirect’ measures were formerly the exclusive province of the repertory grid. The discussion raises general issues about the relative utility of two grid formats, and the unique measurement possibilities of the implication grid are illustrated. It is concluded that the’ implication grid deserves careful consideration for use in studies concerned only with construct relationships.