A critical evaluation of the use of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in health psychology

Abstract

With the burgeoning use of qualitative methods in health research, criteria for judging their value become increasingly necessary. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is a distinctive approach to conducting qualitative research being used with increasing frequency in published studies. A systematic literature review was undertaken to identify published papers in the area of health psychology employing IPA. A total of 52 articles are reviewed here in terms of the following: methods of data collection, sampling, assessing wider applicability of research and adherence to the theoretical foundations and procedures of IPA. IPA seems applicable and useful in a wide variety of research topics. The lack of attention sometimes afforded to the interpretative facet of the approach is discussed.

Keywords:

• Interpretative phenomenological analysis
• health psychology
• qualitative methodology

Acknowledgements

The first author was supported by an ESRC PhD studentship (R42200134160).

The authors would like to thank Jonathan A. Smith and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

*Studies used in the review. These studies are summarised in Appendix 1.