Qualitative interviews are widely and often uncritically adopted for health care research, with little justification of therapeutic value. Although they might provide valuable insights into the perspectives of participants, they represent only a version of reality, rather than "truth" per se. Qualitative research is vulnerable to bias through the attitudes and qualities of the researcher, social desirability factors, and conditions of worth. Exploitation, through role confusion, therapeutic misconception, and misrepresentation are particular risks for health care-related research. Ethical codes, biomedical principles and care philosophies provide little contextual guidance on the moral dilemmas encountered in the practice of research. If nurse researchers are to navigate the moral complexities of research relationships, then sensitivity to risk to participants must be of continual concern, from conception of the study to the reporting of outcomes. Examination of the self through critical reflection and supervision are therefore necessary components of ethical research.

Therapeutic relationships are necessary but not sufficient to enable change when working with people with schizophrenia.

People who hear voices express an interest in more helpful responses from community mental health nurses. The findings of this study indicate that nurses must begin to orientate themselves towards a more critical practice stance that encompasses available knowledge on the voice hearing experience.