Qualitative Methodology in Public Mental Health: Program, Themes and Challenges

The primary objective of the present paper is to describe the use of qualitative methodologies in public mental health as practiced by the Faculty of Medicine at the National University Autonomous of Mexico. Starting from describing our teaching experiences with qualitative methodologies at the masters and doctoral levels, this paper also includes a series of reflections and concerns in relation to the difficulties instructors and students have when proposing qualitative approaches to the practice of public mental health and the topics students choose to study. From these reflections we conclude that one of the most important challenges is to develop high quality and rigorous qualitative research in order to establish it as a respected methodological approach in the study of public mental health. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0801394