The 平特五不中 Illness Narrative Interview is a semi-structured interview protocol for eliciting symptom experience, illness narratives, and help-seeking in health research. It aims to collect rich narrative material which can be used for qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Its distinctive features include an effort to allow the production of multiple narratives: i) a basic narrative account structured by contiguity, ii) a prototype narrative, centered on previous experiences with similar conditions, and an explanatory model narrative organized in terms of explicit knowledge of causes, mechanisms, or other cultural models of process. The MINI has been translated and used in cross-cultural research in many cultures and contexts, to explore diverse health issues and conditions including: breast feeding, depression, diabetes, medically unexplained symptoms, myocardial infarction, non-epileptic seizures, scleroderma, severe mental illness.
Groleau, D., Young, A., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2006). The 平特五不中 Illness Narrative Interview (MINI): an interview schedule to elicit meanings and modes of reasoning related to illness experience. Transcultural Psychiatry, 43(4), 671-691.
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Original English version of the MINI
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Translated Versions of the MINI
Albanian听(Blerta Salihaj and the Kosovo Health Foundation)
Bahasa Indonesia听(Rennie Burke and Imam Mashuri)
Chinese Simplified听(Harry Yi-Jui Wu)
Chinese Traditional听(Harry Yi-Jui Wu)
French (Danielle Groleau)
Hindi (Mamta Sood, Vaibhav Patil and Rohit Verma)
Italian (Venusia Covelli and Linda Figini)
Japanese听(Miwaki Yasuo and Nicolas Tajan)
Luganda听(Modified to explore caregiver perceptions of patient's experience - Wilson Winstons Muhwezi)
Nepali听(Ram Prasad Sapkota)
Norwegian听(Hilde Th酶rnqvist)
Portuguese听(Brazil) (Erotildes Maria Leal, Alicia Navarro de Souza and Octavio Domont Serpa Jr.)
Sami听(Hilde Th酶rnqvist)
Spanish听(Irene Hofmeijer, Consuelo Errazuriz and Fannie Martel)
Thai(Supaporn Sudnongbua)
Thai Family Member听(Supaporn Sudnongbua)
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If you have new translations or publications related to the MINI please let us know so we can keep this resource page up-to-date.
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Studies Using the MINI
Omigbodun, O., Bella-Awusah, T., Emma-Echiegu, N., Abdulmalik, J., Omigbodun, A., Doucet, M. H., & Groleau, D. (2022). Escaping social rejection, gaining total capital: the complex psychological experience of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) among the Izzi in Southeast Nigeria.听Reproductive Health,听19(1), 1-18.
Tajan, N. (2021). Mental Health and Social Withdrawal in Contemporary Japan: Beyond the Hikikomori Spectrum (1st ed.). Routledge.听
Adeponle, A., Groleau, D., Kola, L., Kirmayer, L. J., & Gureje, O. (2017). Perinatal depression in Nigeria: perspectives of women, family caregivers and health care providers.听International journal of mental health systems,听11(1), 27.
Hubley, S., Uebelacker, L. A., Nash, J., & Eaton, C. B. (2017). Open trial of integrated primary care consultation for medically unexplained symptoms.听Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research,听44(4), 590-601.
Sibley, L., & Amare, Y. (2017). Illness recognition and care seeking for maternal complications of pregnancy and birth in rural Amhara and Oromia Regional States of Ethiopia.听BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth,听17(1), 384.
Roth, E. G., Girling, L. M., Chard, S., Wallace, B. H., & Eckert, J. K. (2017). Diabetes and the motivated Patient: Understanding perlocutionary effect in health communication.听Health Communication,32(4), 502-508.
Sarudiansky, M., Lanzillotti, A. I., Pico, M. M. A., Tenreyro, C., Sc茅vola, L., Kochen, S., ... & Korman, G. P. (2017). What patients think about psychogenic nonepileptic seizures in Buenos Aires, Argentina: A qualitative approach.听Seizure,听51, 14-21.
O鈥橠wyer, G., Lino, V., Rodrigues, N., Kramer, M., Reis, I., Frossard, V., ... & Estellita-Lins, C. E. (2017). Illness Experience in a Very Low Income/Poor District of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Tuberculosis, Medication Adherence and Common Mental Disorders.听Health,听9(03), 534.
Tallman, P. S. (2016). The Index of Vulnerability: An anthropological method linking social-ecological systems to mental and physical health outcomes.听Social Science & Medicine,听162, 68-78.
Snodgrass, J. G., Dengah, H. F., Lacy, M. G., Bagwell, A., Van Oostenburg, M., & Lende, D. (2017). Online gaming involvement and its positive and negative consequences: A cognitive anthropological 鈥渃ultural consensus鈥� approach to psychiatric measurement and assessment.听Computers in Human Behavior,听66, 291-302.
Leal, E. M., Souza, A. N. D., Serpa J煤nior, O. D. D., Oliveira, I. C. D., Dahl, C. M., Figueiredo, A. C., ... & Groleau, D. (2016). The 平特五不中 Illness Narrative Interview-MINI: translation and cross-cultural adaptation into Portuguese.听Ciencia & saude coletiva,听21(8), 2393-2402.
Makanjuola, V., Esan, Y., Oladeji, B., Kola, L., Appiah-Poku, J., Harris, B., ... & Gureje, O. (2016). Explanatory model of psychosis: impact on perception of self-stigma by patients in three sub-saharan African cities.听Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology,听51(12), 1645-1654.
Snodgrass, J. G. (2016). Online virtual worlds as anthropological field sites: Ethnographic methods training via collaborative research of Internet gaming cultures.听Annals of Anthropological Practice,40(2), 134-147.
Pruitt, L., Mumuni, T., Raikhel, E., Ademola, A., Ogundiran, T., Adenipekun, A., ... & Olopade, O. I. (2015). Social barriers to diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in patients presenting at a teaching hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria.听Global public health,听10(3), 331-344.
Lavigne-Robichaud, M., Vermeer, A., Azzi, S., Blaine, S., Whebby, B., Barresi, T., ... & Giroux, I. (2015). Lessons learned from a type 2 diabetes prevention group program using a healthy lifestyle education approach.听Canadian Journal of Diabetes,听39, S55.
Nunes, J. A., Ferreira, P., & Queir贸s, F. (2014). Taking part: Engaging knowledge on health in clinical encounters.听Social Science & Medicine,听123, 194-201.
Navarro de Souza, A., Groleau, D., Loiselle, C. G., Foulkes, W. D., & Wong, N. (2014). Cultural Aspects of Healthy BRCA Carriers From Two Ethnocultural Groups. Qualitative Health Research, 24(5):665-81.
Groleau, D., D鈥橲ouza, N. A., & B茅langer, E. (2013). Integrating the Illness Meaning and Experience of Patients: the 平特五不中 Illness Narrative Interview Schedule as a PCM Clinical Communication Tool. International Journal of Person Centered Medicine, 3(2):140-46.
James, C. C., Carpenter, K. A., Peltzer, K., & Weaver, S. (2013). Valuing psychiatric patients鈥� stories: Belief in and use of the supernatural in the Jamaican psychiatric setting. Transcultural psychiatry, 1363461513503879.
Macrae, L., Souza, A. N., Loiselle, C. G., & Wong, N. (2013). Experience of BRCA1/2 mutation negative young women from families with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer: a qualitative study. Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice, 11(14). doi: 10.1186/1897-4287-11-14
Mumtaz, Z., Merchant, N., & Levay, A. (2013). Factors Influencing the Uptake of HIV Testing During Antenatal Care in Rural Uganda. J Women鈥檚 Health Care,2(121), 2167-0420.
Douine, M., Bouchaud, O., Moro, M. R., Baubet, T., & Taieb, O. (2012). [Representations and illness narratives in migrants HIV-patients originating from West Africa]. Presse Med, 41(4), e204-212. doi: 10.1016/j.lpm.2011.09.029.
Galdas, P. M., Oliffe, J. L., Kang, H. B., & Kelly, M. T. (2012). Punjabi Sikh patients' perceived barriers to engaging in physical exercise following myocardial infarction. Public Health Nurs, 29(6), 534-541. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1446.2012.01009.x
Knaus, V. (Ed.). (2012).听Silent Harm: A Report Assessing the Situation of Repatriated Children's Psycho-social Health. Kosovo: UNICEF Kosovo.
Newton, E. G., Thombs, B. D., & Groleau, D. (2012). The experience of emotional distress among women with scleroderma.听Qualitative Health Research, 22(9), 1195-1206.
Dickinson, P., Looper, K. J., & Groleau, D. (2011). Patients diagnosed with nonepileptic seizures: Their perspectives and experiences.听Epilepsy & Behavior听: E&B.
Muhwezi, W. W., Kinyanda, E., Mungherera, M., Onyango, P., Ngabirano, E., Muron, J., . . . Kajungu, R. (2011). Vulnerability to high risk sexual behaviour (HRSB) following exposure to war trauma as seen in post-conflict communities in eastern uganda: a qualitative study. Conflict & Health, 5, 22. doi: 10.1186/1752-1505-5-22.
Craig, S. R., Chase, L., & Lama, T. N. (2010). Taking the MINI to Mustang, Nepal: Methodological and epistemological translations of an illness narrative tool. Anthropology & Medicine, 17(1), 1-26.
Galdas, P. M., & Kang, H. B. (2010). Punjabi Sikh patients' cardiac rehabilitation experiences following myocardial infarction: a qualitative analysis. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(21-22), 3134-3142.
Groleau, D., Whitley, R., Lesperance, F., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2010). Spiritual reconfigurations of self after a myocardial infarction: Influence of culture and place.听Health & Place, 16(5), 853-860.
Lee, B. O., Kirmayer, L. J., & Groleau, D. (2010). Therapeutic Processes and Perceived Helpfulness of Dang-Ki (Chinese Shamanism) from the Symbolic Healing Perspective.听Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 34(1), 56-105.
Muhwezi, W. W., Okello, E. S., Neema, S., & Musisi, S. (2008). Caregivers' experiences with major depression concealed by physical illness in patients recruited from central Ugandan Primary Health Care Centers.听Qualitative Health Research, 18(8), 1096-1114.
Lucas, H., Ding, S., & Bloom, G. (2008). What do we mean by 鈥榤ajor illness鈥�? The need for new approaches to research on the impact of ill-health on poverty. Studies in HSO&P, 23, 29-53.
Muhwezi, W. W. (2007). The Interface Between Family Structure, Life Events and Major Depression in Uganda. Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.
Whitley, R., Kirmayer, L. J., & Groleau, D. (2006). Public pressure, private protest: Illness narratives of West Indian immigrants in Montreal with medically unexplained symptoms.听Anthropology and Medicine, 13(3), 193-205.
Whitley, R., Kirmayer, L. J., & Groleau, D. (2006). Understanding immigrants' reluctance to use mental health services: a qualitative study from Montreal.听Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 51(4), 205-209.
Stern, L., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2004). Knowledge structures in illness narratives: development and reliability of a coding scheme. Transcultural Psychiatry, 41(1), 130-142.
Groleau, D., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2004). Sociosomatic theory in Vietnamese immigrants' narratives of distress.听Anthropology & Medicine, 11(2), 117-133.
Kirmayer, L. J., Groleau, D., Looper, K. J., & Dao, M. D. (2004). Explaining medically unexplained symptoms. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 49(10), 663-672.
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Related Papers
Roth, E. G., Girling, L. M., Chard, S., Wallace, B. H., & Eckert, J. K. (2016). Diabetes and the Motivated Patient: Understanding Perlocutionary Effect in Health Communication.听Health communication, 1-7.
Tallman, P. S. (2016). The Index of Vulnerability: An anthropological method linking social-ecological systems to mental and physical health outcomes.听Social Science & Medicine.
Wallace, B. H., Reese, A. M., Chard, S., Roth, E. G., Quinn, C., & Eckert, J. K. (2016). Understanding the Subjective Experience of Medication Adherence for Older Urban African Americans With Type 2 Diabetes and a History of Illicit Drug Addiction.听Journal of aging and health, 0898264316636840.
Rock, M., & Babinec, P. (2010). Prototypes connect human diabetes with feline and canine diabetes in the context of animal-human bonds: An anthropological analysis.听Anthrozo枚s, 23(1), 5-20.
Kirmayer, L. J., & Bhugra, D. (2009). Culture and mental illness: social context and explanatory models. In I. M. Salloum & J. E. Mezzich (Eds.),听Psychiatric Diagnosis: Patterns and Prospects听(pp. 29-37). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Rudell, K., Bhui, K., & Priebe, S. (2009). Concept, development and application of a new mixed method assessment of cultural variations in illness perceptions: Barts Explanatory Model Inventory.听Journal of Health Psychology, 14(2), 336-347.
Groleau, D., Zelkowitz, P., & Cabral, I. E. (2009). Enhancing generalizability: moving from an intimate to a political voice.听Qualitative Health Research, 19(3), 416-426.
Coutu, M. F., Durand, M. J., Baril, R., Labrecque, M. E., Ngomo, S., Cote, D., et al. (2008). A review of assessment tools of illness representations: are these adapted for a work disability prevention context? J Occup Rehabil, 18(4), 347-361.
Haidet, P., O'Malley, K. J., Sharf, B. F., Gladney, A. P., Greisinger, A. J., & Street, R. L., Jr. (2008). Characterizing explanatory models of illness in healthcare: development and validation of the CONNECT instrument.听Patient education and counseling, 73(2), 232-239.
Groleau, D., Pluye, P., & Nadeau, L. (2007). A mixed-method approach to the cultural understanding of distress and the non-use of mental health services Journal of Mental Health, 16(6), 731-741.
Groleau, D., Souliere, M., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2006). Breastfeeding and the cultural configuration of social space among Vietnamese immigrant woman. Health Place, 12(4), 516-526.