McCombie et al. 2023 - PREPRINT - Qualitative digital diary methods- participant-led values for ethical and insightful mental health research

Qualitative digital diary methods are a promising tool for capturing participants’ experiences in their own words and across time periods. The use of mobile phone apps to collect this kind of data provides an accessible and flexible way of participating in research, but to truly benefit from this method, participants needs and preferences must be taken into account. This paper explores participant experiences of taking part in qualitative digital diary research, and highlights participants’ values and priorities for qualitative digital diary mental health research. Participants from research projects involving two groups (people with lived experience of eating disoroders, and young people from diverse backgrounds across London schools) provided feedback on their experiences, in the form of interviews and focus groups, and data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The six resulting themes each cover a core value that participants identified as important for them in taking part in qualitative diary research: Self-expression, flexibility, non-judgement, open communication, helpful reflection, and meaningful impact. Themes each highlight particular ways participants can be supported in each aspect, to ensure they can take part in this type of research in ways that are meaningful to them, as well as most beneficial to the research. This paper provides an overview of participant preferences for qualitative digital diary research, and provides researchers with an overview of how to support participant priorities and values in this type of research.