4. Method
4.1. Participants and Procedure. The objective of this paper
was to examine the coping strategies on auditory hallucinations,
of Chinese people with schizophrenia in Hong Kong.
As the coping with the problem of hearing voices is subject
to the hearers’ own interpretations, a qualitative research
method therefore was adopted to facilitate the participants’
ability to describe the phenomena of the voices in fine detail
and in their own terms. The qualitative approach was used
to gain a deep understanding of the complex subjective
experiences people afflicted with the problems [31]. With
respect to sample size, McCracken suggested that eight
respondents would be sufficient for many qualitative projects
[32] while Creswell thought that ten subjects in a study
represented a reasonable size [33]. In view of the qualitative
and exploratory nature of investigating the subjective
experience of the voice hearers, purposive sampling was
employed to select participants who met the criteria for the
study. The inclusion criteria for the participants included the
following: (a) that they had received a definite diagnosis of
schizophrenia, (b) that they were 18 years of age or above,
(c) that they had had the illness for more than 6 months,
(d) that they has been clinically stable for at least 1 month
prior to assessment (clinical stability is operationally defined
as absence of exacerbation of illness requiring an increase in
drug dosage by 50% or more), and (e) that they had reported
the presence of auditory hallucinations. The exclusion criteria
included (a) patients with diagnosis of organic brain
syndromes, substance abuse, subnormal intelligence, and (b)
those having difficulty in verbal communication.