Validating “announcer” and “confessor” styles of mental health self-disclosure through use of archived qualitative data

摘要

Two new conceptual styles of self-disclosure were identified in a previous study—“announcers” and “confessors”. The styles and characteristics of each had been derived from disclosures made during Somerset Health Panel discussions in 2001 on attitudes to stress and depression. The aim of this article is to validate and refine the concepts of “announcer” and “confessor” styles of self-disclosure. Data from archived qualitative data of seven focus groups collected in 2006 for the Cultural Context of Youth Suicide study was analysed. The results validated the concept of two styles of self-disclosure (announcers and confessors) and highlight additional factors that impact on disclosure. This study adds new insights in how people disclose personal or sensitive information and the impact of specific factors (contextual, individual and methodological) on the disclosure style used. Importantly, this article also demonstrates that qualitative data can be reused successfully in the development of models in communication and social interaction theory.