Abstract
A Methodology of Change for Community Participation in Improving Rural Health Outcomes
John Aitken, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University
Rural health delivery is traditionally funded and defined by government policy. However, rural communities are socially diverse, with varying demographics and different community health problems. The challenge for the researcher is to engage with all stakeholders to identify local health needs and use coproduced outcomes to improve community health and well-being. Action research is an appropriate methodology, for community participation, to identify problems, develop and coproduce interventions, observe the results, and reflect on the outcomes. The project challenges included developing a governance structure with the health service, reviewing the boundaries of the project and the capacity of health service staff to engage in community participation. The project benefits were the empowerment of community stakeholders, to become agents of change, and the changing role and improved capacity of health service staff to facilitate this process. This project used group meetings, semistructured interviews, participatory mapping, and photovoice to generate data and develop a community conversation about health and well-being. An epistemology of constructivism provides an understanding of the sense making and new knowledge that is essential to the community participation process. Different generations had varying constructs about health and well-being which created tensions within families. Strategies to address these issues were developed as part of the community participation project. This project highlighted the need for a methodology that addressed the needs of all stakeholders that was adaptable to change and could accommodate a governance structure that benefited all stakeholders.
Using Atlas Software to Analyse Qualitative Data: Personal Reflections
Nada Alsaleh, King Saud University—University of Leicester
Qualitative research has become easier and more reliable with computer assistance using Qualitative Data Analysis Software. This software offers tools that assist with qualitative research such as transcription analysis, coding and text interpretation, recursive abstraction, content analysis, and discourse analysis. Atlas software is one software in this field that supports different languages with flexible licenses. Atlas software provides the opportunity to analyse different sources of data synchronously. This poster illustrates how I used Atlas software to analyse data collected in Arabic using English codes. Moreover, it shows how I used Atlas software features such as codes, themes, quotations, networks, and outputs to read, understand, and interpret the data taken from several resources, such as focus groups, observations, and diaries. This is not an advertisement for Atlas software but rather a guideline as to how to take advantage of qualitative data analysis software to obtain reliable results and avoid errors in data analysis.
Methodological Confluences: Integrating Action Research and Implementation Science in Pursuit of Effective Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
Aly Bailey, Brock University
Kimberley L. Gammage, Brock University
Cathy van Ingen, Brock University
Madelyn Law, Brock University
The purpose of this study is to explore the integration of action research and implementation science to suggest a collaborative approach for effective program implementation. This approach will be used as a way to develop, implement, and evaluate a positive body image program by working with members of the community to improve well-being. Action research is an iterative process, involving multiple cycles of action and reflection, by working with participants, in the pursuit of knowledge generation and is meant to be transformative for everyone involved. Implementation science is an interdisciplinary collection of methods used to promote the systematic uptake of evidence-based clinical treatments, practices, organizational, and management interventions into routine practice to improve health. Implementation science has predominantly investigated influences on patients, health-care professionals, and organizational behaviour, within health-care and community settings. Although action research stems from critical theory, implementation science traditionally reflects a postpositivist framework but has also evolved to be more theoretically flexible. However, both approaches are iterative, dynamic, and organized with an emergent design. In action research, stakeholders are the foundation of the methodology, whereas in implementation science, stakeholders are an integral partner in the effective program design and implementation. The reflexive nature of action research may complement the iterative cycles of implementation science, particularly in continuous quality improvement. Both approaches pursue positive change and transformation of individuals and organizations. Together these two approaches can complement one another to improve program design, implementation, and evaluation, within the journey of promoting positive body image within individuals.
Satisfaction Toward Public Health Services. The Perspective of Users of Primary Health Care Regarding Welcomeness and Access to Treatment
Alexandre Favero Bulgarelli, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Mariana Souza Gomide, School of Nursing EERP-USP
Fabiana Costa Machado Zacharias, School of Nursing EERP-USP
Pilar Serrano, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
Ione Carvalho Pinto, School of Nursing EERP-USP
The satisfaction of users of health services is one perspective to construct meanings to comprehend the welcomeness process and the access to treatment in the Brazilian Unified Health System (acronym in Portuguese language is SUS). It is an important perspective that evokes the subjectivity between service offers in the public health system and the users’ current needs. The aim of the present study is to describe and analyze the users’ perceptions regarding access and welcomeness at primary health-care centers and emergency care units (ECU). It is a comprehensive research designed based on a social constructionism perspective to assess people’s perception regarding human assistance at Brazilian public health system. The study was evaluated, simultaneously, by the Ethics Committee of School of Nursing at Ribeirão Preto and the Municipal Health Ethics Committee. Both approved the development of the research after the assignment of consent terms by all interviewed health service users. As methodological procedures to data collection, we applied semistructured interviews to 28 users of the SUS in nonurgent situations during the second semester of 2014. The interviews happened in the waiting rooms at health centers in all districts of the city of Ribeirão Preto where the study took place. In addition to the interviews, we performed nonparticipant observation. We constructed data by means of the transcription of the audio recordings, field diaries, and memos from the observation. We analyzed data by means of content analysis following the thematic categorization perspective constructing analysis axes. As results, we observed that among all users of SUS interviewed, the main findings showed satisfaction with care and human assistance received by health professionals in APS. At the same time, dissatisfaction with the delay in scheduling appointments. Furthermore, dissatisfaction was associated to the fact that is too much access barriers to be accepted by spontaneous demand in a Primary Health Care (PHC) service. We can conclude that the barriers to access PHC services are major deterrent for people to get care, affecting directly on their satisfaction and high demand by the ECU.
Navigating a Paradigmatic Shift in the Midst of a Phenomenological Study
Lindsay Cline, Brock University
Kimberley Gammage, Brock University
Cathy van Ingen, Brock University
While the overall goal of phenomenology is to better understand the lived experience of a particular phenomenon, there are several approaches that can be employed by researchers. The phenomenological approach selected by the researcher will be governed by his or her philosophical positioning. Constructs such as the nature of knowledge and truth, the role of the researcher, and how researcher and participant values are handled throughout the study will shape the lens through which a phenomenological study is conducted. Participant recruitment, data collection, analysis, and presentation of results will differ depending on the researcher’s philosophical stance. This presentation will explore how the researcher experienced a paradigm shift, along with a shift from a descriptive to interpretive phenomenology, within the scope of a specific phenomenological study. Discussion will focus on the project evolution as the researcher shifted from a postpositivist position advocating knowledge discovery, singular truth, and remaining value neutral and objective with participants, to now aligning more with a constructivist position, incorporating coconstructed knowledge, multiple realities as truth, and including both participant and researcher values. Specifically, the presentation will discuss the technique of bracketing, used in descriptive phenomenology approaches to keep researcher values and experiences separate from participant data, and how the researcher’s struggle with the concept of bracketing became the catalyst for her shift in philosophical positioning.
Qualitative Methods for Quality of Life Research: Introduction to the Main Issues
Denis Francesconi, University of Verona, Italy
Since the early 1990’s, there has been a paradigm shift in human development theory due to a slow but steady increase in attention towards concepts such as well-being and quality of life (QoL). Accordingly, some have put under quest the validity power of the gross national product to explain variations in the wealth and development of nations, and several institutions and scholars have started developing new indicators to measure both subjective and collective well-being and QoL: Better Life Initiative Subjective Well-being, Stiglitz–Sen–Fitoussi Commission, QoL in Europe (Eurostat 2013), and Post-2015 Development Agenda (UN Economic and Social Council). In this debate, however, there is a strong predominance of quantitative approaches while qualitative epistemology and methodology seem to be missing. In my presentation, I will discuss (a) a general introduction to the use of qualitative methods in studying quality of life at both individual and policy level (qualitative policy analysis) and (b) a more specific focus on phenomenological method and its applicability in studying subjective well-being. In conclusion, I will stress (c) the need to approach the theme of quality of life and more specifically subjective well-being through qualitative methods and (d) relevance and adequacy of the phenomenological method in studying subjective well-being.
What Should Leadership Look Like in a Modern Police Force? A Phenomenological Approach to Identifying Police Officer Self-Concept
Peter Gallagher, Australian Catholic University Institute for Positive Psychology and Education (IPPE)
A phenomenological approach to data collection and analysis was undertaken in this observation of police employees (n = 742) over a 2½ year time span, each employee being observed for 3 days (in groups of approximately 20) whilst participating in a departmental training program. This presentation will examine the position of the researcher (himself a very experienced and senior police officer) in developing the training program to answer the research question, the nonradical constructionist approach taken, reflexivity of forethought, power relationships and how they were addressed, the collection of data concerned with studying accounts of subjective experience—rather than subjective accounts of experience, and sensitivity to self-concept theory to guide data analysis. Theoretical sensitivity linked to the researcher’s own experiences and knowledge of the literature will be discussed, as will the data analysis itself which led to “emergence” of superordinate themes better described by self-determination theory, and this not being recognised by the researcher until the completion of data analysis. The findings have significant implications for the development and implementation of human resource policies and practices within the police department.
To Boldly Go: Discovering New Nursing Knowledge Through Exploratory-Descriptive Qualitative (EDQ) Research
David Hunter, University of West Scotland
Jacqueline McCallum, Glasgow Caledonian University
Dora Howes, Glasgow Caledonian University
“Qualitative research findings have been shown to be necessary to the advancement of health research” (Sandelowski, 2004, p. 1374). There are various qualitative approaches available for researchers to choose from (Sandelowski, 2000). These include phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, and action research. However, this is not an exhaustive list. Other qualitative methodologies exist, which a researcher may choose to use if they can describe and justify their rationale for using it (Holloway & Wheeler, 2010). Ultimately, the researcher has to defend their choice of methodology by demonstrating how it meets the aims of their research (Thomas, 2013). A review of the literature identified a number of published research articles which claim to have used an “exploratory-descriptive qualitative” (EDQ) design. However, closer inspection revealed a lack of theoretical underpinning. As a result, the authors created a conceptual framework, underpinned by appropriate theory, to support the use of an exploratory descriptive qualitative approach, called EDQ. We argue, in this poster, that there is a place in nursing research to use such an approach as long as it is the most appropriate to answer the aims of the study. As a result, EDQ has emerged as a relevant research methodology to allow nurse researchers to explore and describe phenomena which have previously been overlooked, or received little attention, in the literature.
Using Drama and Film to Translate Data Analysis Results
Ima Jackson, Glasgow Caledonian University
Katja Frimberger, Glasgow University
Alison Phipps, Glasgow University
Teresa Piacentini, Glasgow University
Rarely, and surprisingly, is there any dialogue in research between all three parties “migrants” interpreters and clinicians, and as a result, there seems to be a methodological and conceptual conservatism in addressing this aspect of intercultural communication in health care. As our understanding grew, so did our boldness and creativity towards our methodological approach to the study and its output. The challenge became crystallised around how data analysis results can be made available and meaningful for those whose day-to-day role is immersed in the research topic. We decided to use drama and film. Managing the tensions between using immersive drama techniques developed from Boal, whilst rearticulating qualitative data analysis into formal scenarios for filming was challenging. Reporting from this process, this presentation sets out the learning which was reached through this process and explains how using film and drama became embedded in academic and nonacademic outputs.
Exploring Vaccine Hesitant Parents Decision-Making Through In-Depth Interviews
Asha Jama, Public Health Agency
Mona Ali, Public Health Agency
Ann Lindstrand, Public Health Agency
When developing tailored health communication interventions, in-depth understanding regarding migrant, of Somali origin, parent’s decision-making concerning childhood vaccinations is crucial. Without this understanding, activities with the aim to increase knowledge and behaviour changes will not be optimal. Through qualitative interviews, the study included and targeted 11 parents with at least 1 child from 1 to 5 years of age who vaccinate and those who hesitate and 11 nurses working at child wealth fare clinics in a suburb in Stockholm, Sweden. Establishing a trustful relationship with the participants was essential. The research team came in contact with the parents through the child wealth fare clinics as well as through the snowball effect, where parents recommended others. Trust between the research team and parents facilitated the recruitment process. Content analysis was used when analysing the rich data from the interviews. A multidisciplinary research team with different ethnic background analysed the data together. Through rigorous interpretation and reanalysis, a deeper understanding for factors contributing to the parents’ decision was made. Use of qualitative research methods assists public health workers to develop tailored health communication interventions to reduce myths related to vaccines that protect childhood diseases.
Respecting the Voices of Children in Healthcare Research
Jane Jervis, Keele University
Sue Read, Keele University
Michael Murray, Keele University
The aim of this participatory action research PhD study is to identify and critically explore the issues surrounding children visiting adult relatives who are patients in a large teaching hospital in the United Kingdom. The primary objectives are to increase understanding into how staff could be better prepared to support children and their families when visiting acutely ill adult patients at the hospital and to explore the feasibility for staff to change current practice and improve the experience of both child visitors and their families. With importance being placed upon children’s participation in health-care research, children and young people have been engaged in two elements of the research. Members of the local Children’s Research Network Young Persons Advisory Group were asked to provide informal consultation exploring and helping to guide the PhD research question and proposed methodology. During Phase 1 of the research, registered nurses identified that there was local need for resources and education for both staff and visitors. Students, aged 16–20 years, from a local college requested to participate in the project by designing these resources. They have also asked if they could have their own focus groups in order to reflect on their work within the project and to provide a young person’s perspective on visiting the local health-care organisations. This article will discuss how young people involved in the research process did offer a different perspective both in relation to research methods and the visitors experiences in various health-care organisations.
An Introduction to the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique
Theresa Jubenville, University of Calgary; Sharon Cairns, University of Calgary
The enhanced critical incident technique (ECIT) is a qualitative method used to investigate critical incidents, events, factors, or turning points that promote or detract from the performance of a specific activity. The ECIT has been predominantly used within the field of counselling psychology; however, the flexible nature of the method permits it to be adapted to research in various disciplines. This presentation provides a brief introduction to the ECIT method and demonstrates its utility in research that seeks to provide concrete, practical solutions to real-life problems. A brief history of the ECIT is provided, followed by a discussion of the philosophical assumptions underlying the approach. Finally, a research study that followed the ECIT method is used to illustrate the steps and procedures of the method.
Using Photos to Give Voice to Low-Income Immigrant Seniors Required Serendipity and Trust
Louanne Keenan, University of Alberta
Photovoice and accompanying narratives allow researchers to capture spatial mobility, interactions, and participation experience in neighborhoods. While these tools can maximize research participants’ involvement and freedom of expression, they can also be frightening and invasive. In our study, we worked alongside multicultural health brokers: members of immigrant communities who have trusting relationships with the natural leaders, immigrant seniors, and families. This network of relationships was critical to the brokers’ success at being able to find and recruit low-income immigrant seniors to capture their photos and stories about their precarious housing. This presentation will describe the limitations of our ambitious strategy to recruit 36 participants: 6–8 seniors for each focus group, from specific countries (e.g., Hong Kong, Somalia, Iran, and Central and South America) who were new immigrants (arrived in the past 10 years), and living in inadequate/precarious housing. We will explain the reality of spending 6 months with the brokers and trusted leaders to recruit a diverse group of seniors that were cautious and unsure of the researcher’s request. The brokers had to be sensitive to the immigrant seniors’ issues: PTSD from years in refugee camps, fear of reprisals from the landlords, and shame because of their poor living conditions. Ethics revisions were required because the interpreters had to actually accompany the seniors to locations that they wanted to photograph. Costs escalated when the interpreters needed to be present at every focus group and become translators of the recordings. These adaptations inspired serendipitous research designs, which may eventually reshape seniors’ communities.
Sharing Experiences of Conducting Focus Groups With Populations Across the Healthcare Spectrum
Aileen Lynch, Trinity College Dublin
Honor Nicholl, Trinity College Dublin
Catherine Tracey, Trinity College Dublin
Focus group interviewing is one form of qualitative data collection where people share their experiences and in doing so generate rich data thus enabling development of perspectives, deeper insight, and understanding of the topic under study. Firstly, in sharing our experience of conducting focus groups, our target populations are generally experts due to long relationships with their complex situations a result of which requires the interviewer to be knowledgeable of the topic under study, however, not so much as not to forget it is the target population who are experts and what is required, is that, the researcher is respectful, curious, listens, questions, and probes. Also, skilfully manages the interview as sensitive experiences may be shared, strongly held beliefs may be expressed, and the experience for some may be challenging. As our experience involves interviewing different adult populations across the spectrum and as such each group preparation requires different considerations in terms of length of interview against markers such as participant–parental management of children and their needs, physical and psychological needs and levels of energy, ethical issues such as the presence or not of personal assistants, and managing babies and infants’ needs while the interview is being conducted. In addition, we considered the appropriateness of venue in terms of location and facilities, the role of support assistance, and the role of the moderator in providing feedback. Finally, the role of digital technology in, for example recruitment, consent and its use in the effective management of interview recording was addressed.
Containing Childbirth: The Language of Labour and Delivery
Graham McCaffery, University of Calgary
Cynthia Mannion, University of Calgary
The presentation is a meditation on language and its effects, focusing on a specific locality in the health-care world, labour and delivery—or childbirth. Double naming, its causes, and its effects open up an interpretive understanding of the area. People who work in maternity care are fluent in two dialects: They can talk to each other in either and they can talk reflectively about and across them. Gadamerian hermeneutics provides a methodological basis for the analysis through drawing attention to the dialectic relationship between language and its social world. Gadamer’s concept of “historically effected consciousness” provides a theoretical framework for interpretive analysis of variations in vocabulary in the subdiscipline of labour and delivery, leading to questions of power differentials, unspoken ideological assumptions, and how histories become expressed in present practices. We describe occurrences of difference in the language used in labour and delivery and explore what these differences might express using Gadamer’s reconceptualization of rhetoric to regard language in its origins and effects as well as its instrumental meanings. The exploration draws upon instances of debate amongst professionals and particular examples of vocabulary to evoke. If there is an overarching theme, it is that the cross currents of language in this area are driven by the sheer force of the phenomenon of childbirth; the natural force of labour and the cultural forces that are invoked to control and contain it.
Using a Policy Analysis Framework to Understand Representations of Ageing, Vision Loss, and Disability
Colleen McGrath, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences
Barry Trentham, University of Toronto
Marlee Spafford, University of Waterloo.
Qualitative researchers may consult public policy in order to help situate their research findings; however, a systematic method for critically analysing these documents is necessary. The policy analysis framework proposed by Bacchi (2009) is one suitable method for use in analysing public documents and policies. This poster will showcase Bacchi’s novel approach to policy/document analysis, outline the framework’s strengths and drawbacks, and provide researchers with the skills necessary to critically evaluate documents/policies relevant to their own research. Examples of its application will be drawn from a critical ethnographic study that I conducted on environmental influences on the occupational engagement of older adults with age-related vision loss (ARVL), where one of the methods of data collection was the identification and analysis of 16 documents related to ARVL, aging, and disability. From a research implications standpoint, possessing the ability to systematically and critically question those taken-for-granted assumptions inherent in documents/policies is an important skill in one’s qualitative methodological toolkit.
Discussing Risk Awareness, Disease Progression, and Quality of Life With Cancer Patients at Higher Risk of Developing Malignant Spinal Cord Compression (MSCC): Methodological and Ethical Challenges
Audrey Morrison, Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre
Ann Marie Rice, University of Glasgow
Cathy Hutchison, Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre
Malignant spinal cord compression (MSCC) is an extremely debilitating acute emergency condition, which in almost half of cases, the patient is completely unable to mobilise at time of admission to hospital. Informing cancer patients about the small risk of developing MSCC and the benefits of early awareness of the possible consequences and the importance of early detection and prevention is vital to maintaining ambulatory status, survival, and quality of life. Yet, health-care professionals appear reluctant to discuss the condition to all patients at risk when it may only affect a small number or in fear of invoking distress. To ensure the best possible future outcomes for those at risk, this study aimed to determine what information staff provide and when and what information patients receive and/or want. A focus group interview was held with prostate cancer patients deemed at high risk of developing the condition. The results were surprising and at odds with the literature. Moral, ethical, and professional questions raised methodological challenges for the researchers involved and provoked much debate and reflection around current practices. This article will present those challenges.
Family Carers Support Needs and Decision Making Experiences in Palliative and End of Life Care in Ghana, Sub-Saharan Africa
Yakubu Salifu, The University of Nottingham
Bridget Jonhston, University of Nottingham
Kathryn Almack, University of Nottingham
Glenys Caswell, University of Nottingham
Carers of palliative patients usually have unique needs and challenges that require expert and professional care, but, in the case of Ghana, most patients are cared for by family carers due to very limited health-care facilities for palliative care. In most cases, these care givers are not ready for the caring role and they have challenges in fulfilling their caring role. While tools have been developed to assess caregivers’ support needs in the United Kingdom, the experiences and support needs of carers and their decision-making difficulties in Sub-Saharan Africa are underresearched. It is envisaged that the study will provide clear understanding of carers’ support needs and decision-making experiences in the Ghanaian context and help to provide evidence-based quality care. The study seeks to explore the support needs and decision-making experiences of the family carers of palliative and end-of-life patients in Ghana. Adopting a constructivist and interpretivist approach, the research explores the care needs and decision-making of family carers. Individual face-to-face, in-depth interviews will be employed to collect data from family carers until data saturation is reached. Family carers will be selected through patients registered at the Oncology Unit at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana, after seeking ethical approval from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana.
Using Nominal Group Technique to Identify Research Priorities in Palliative Nursing Care
Maya Shaha, University of Lausanne
Mathieu Bernard, University of Lausanne
Background: Determining research priorities is recognized as an important step in furthering knowledge development and advancing science. Palliative nursing care has emerged as a new area of study due to the increased focus on palliative medicine and the growth in numbers of patients with chronic diseases worldwide. Aims: To support knowledge development and to establish an academic practice partnership between a university department of palliative care and a university department of nursing science. Methods: A qualitative study using a nominal group technique approach with n = 2 focus groups was conducted. All nursing professionals of the university department of palliative care participated in this endeavour including the medical direction through the head of research. Results: A total of 14 themes were identified as being important to nurses in the palliative care department. In an additional session, these themes will be divided into themes for organizational projects and into research themes. The research themes will be ranked in order of importance and subsequently developed into studies. Discussion: This procedure captures the perspectives of the nurses of this palliative care department. Therefore, studies based on these findings will have greater relevance to nursing practice.
Finding Out What Works and What Doesn’t in Anti-Smoking Campaigns Through Focus Group Discussions With Youth Smokers
Shazana Shahwan, Research Division, Institute of Mental Health
Restria Fauziana, Research Division, Institute of Mental Health
Mythily Subramaniam, Research Division, Institute of Mental Health
The lineage of focus group discussion (FGD) research is most commonly and directly traced to studies of persuasive communication and the effects of mass media. FGDs enable a deeper exploration of people’s feelings, insights, and perceptions compared to surveys and are less time consuming than in-depth interviews. Importantly, FGDs allow the examination of consensus and disparity between groups of people. For these reasons, FGDs was the choice method to tackle our aim of identifying effective elements in antismoking campaigns perceived by young people. Twelve FGDs with 91 smokers aged 14–29 years were carried out in a mall popular among Singaporean youths. Participants were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling. A set topic guide was used to explore participants’ reactions towards past and ongoing antismoking campaigns. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the transcribed data. Nvivo 10 software supported the analysis. Data were broken down into smaller units and subsequently assigned codes based on the content represented. A codebook was constructed through an iterative process of discussion and refinement. Three authors coded the data. An interrater reliability of .74 was established. From the data, we concluded that fear appeals that had no immediate relevance to youths and sports/dance-based campaigns which overwhelmed the antismoking messages were deemed ineffective. In contrast, elements identified to be efficacious were positive tone, low-fear visual images, “low-controlling language,” and genuine spokesperson. Youth-approved campaigns tended to be circulated through social media platforms. Importantly, youths voiced a lack of tangible supports for their efforts to quit smoking.
Taking Stock of the Challenges and Tensions Involved in Peer Leadership in Participatory Research About Psychosis
Mona Shattell, Rush University
Nev Jones, Mental Health Services Oversight & Accountability Commission
Participatory research methods are not new. In fact, efforts to return some degree of control to those most directly affected by research have been around for decades. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that, at least in the United States, the rhetoric of participation almost always exceeds the reality. “Community advisory boards” often have no meaningful control over decisions; stakeholders or community members most frequently occupy positions with no more power than research assistants or entry-level coordinators. Few who follow the politics of research would disagree that we still have a long way to go in the context of promoting more substantive research leadership by those on the margins. On the flip side, however, albeit possibly as a consequence of participatory mental health research that is most often participatory in name only, the complexities of meaningful, multidimensional involvement are often downplayed. In this presentation, we draw on our own experiences to draw attention to three major problems: (1) research hierarchies, (2) the politics of identity, and (3) the implications of peer researchers with actual (current) disabilities. We describe a need to marshal systemic challenges to existing structures: to ask ourselves what “mad” research really is or would look like, what mechanisms and protocols would actually support egalitarian, collective decision-making, and why and how academic (perhaps even more so than other social institutions) continues to invisibly exclude or marginalize those with mental disabilities.
In Conversation With Researchers: Ethical Issues in Qualitative Interviews With Academic Elites
Carmel Smith, Institute of Technology Carlow
The emergence of the field of childhood studies in recent decades provides a powerful example of how cross-disciplinary research collaborations can fruitfully challenge dominant, monodisciplinary discourses. This article examines the ethical issues that arose in a qualitative study that explored the perspectives of 22 high-profile researchers, closely involved in the framing of this new field. Employing “elite” qualitative interviews, participants reflected upon how their personal, professional, and disciplinary biographies had influenced and shaped their approaches to children’s research. The findings were presented as interview conversations, so that the informal nature of the interview discussions was preserved for the reader. The aim was to break with standard academic conventions and produce rich, reflective, and less sanitized accounts of research. A collaborative and trusting research relationship was essential for participants to feel comfortable and be willing to talk openly. Academic reputations and credibility were potentially at stake. Careful attention to ethics centred on issues of data ownership, anonymity, confidentiality, editing of transcripts, use of quotations, and “member checking.” The interviews revealed significant disagreements between participants, requiring a sound grasp of multidisciplinary perspectives and skilful interviewing techniques. Qualitative interviews with academic elites potentially offer the best thinking available on the past, present, and future of a field. They shed light on topics in ways that traditional published academic work cannot. Their success depends upon trust and collaboration between the researcher and the researched and a carefully negotiated and transparent approach to ethical issues.
Case Study or Case Studies? An Adventure in Discovery!
Pamela Smith, Glasgow Caledonian University
One of the challenges of using case study methodology is whether to use a single case or multiple cases. The single case maintains the focus entirely on what is interesting about the case itself, allowing the researchers to delve deeply into the phenomenon under scrutiny. In contrast, multiple cases within a study can be viewed in combination or in isolation as separate but related entities, allowing a greater focus on the phenomenon emerging from across the cases. The subsequent comparison and cross-case analysis afforded by the multiple cases relies in some part on the prior knowledge of the researcher in recognising that the focus is no longer on each individual case but rather on the differences and similarities between the cases as well as the researcher framing the findings in the context of the study. Within this exploratory interpretivist case study, I chose to explore the perceptions of the participants in each of the 4 years as individual cases before undertaking cross-case analysis to contrast and compare the findings. The rationale underpinning this decision was that although all participants were registered on the same programme at university, it was hypothesised that each year group was likely to vary in their experience and learning thus altering their perceptions of the topic under investigation. I considered that this design would maximise the opportunities to contrast and compare the responses across the four cases and would allow a better focus on the phenomenon that is perceptions of communication.
Going Off-Piste Into the Swamp and Other Realist Metaphors
Susan Somerville, University of Dundee
This PhD study aims to explore the benefits, challenges, and impact of providing a mobile facility for clinical skills training and simulation-based education for health-care professionals in their clinical skills practice and as clinical educators, in particular in remote and rural Scotland. The study is being undertaken using realist methods, initially a realist synthesis to identify the initial program theories (expressed in terms of context, mechanism, and outcome configurations [CMOc]) and followed by a realist evaluation to test these CMOc. As a novice researcher using realist methods, this has been an interesting methodology to work in and in addition because there is little published research regarding the subject matter of the PhD. So in undertaking a realist synthesis, I have been exploring a variety of sources of evidence such as broad literature scoping, strategy and policy document review, fieldwork, and so on. Using this sequential approach to synthesis, then evaluation is challenging because questions have arisen in the synthesis which I have felt may only be answerable by primary data collection in the evaluation. So having embarked on the one to inform the other, I find myself “zigzagging” between mind-sets of flexibility and rigour, asking how, why, what way to plan the research approach, either consecutively or sequentially. Will adhering to realist protocols such as the RAMESES guide help or highlight any methodological deficiencies in aiming to defend the resulting research approach in due course.
Exploring the Development and Implementation of a Music-Sound Linked Autobiographical Memory Intervention, With Patients Diagnosed With Dementia. A Phenomenological Approach
Danai Theodosopoulou, University of East Anglia
Simon Horton, University of East Anglia
Anne Killett, University of East Anglia
Phenomenology addresses the subtle differences of experience and reveal a more complete picture of the way individuals understand their relation to a phenomenon by focusing on one’s internal psychological meanings. A phenomenological study was chosen to further explore the development and lived experience of music-sound linked autobiographical memory intervention with dementia patients. We discuss how qualitative methods in this study need to focus on strategies to overcome the communication challenges engendered by dementia. Furthermore, our approach aims to explore the theoretical application of phenomenology in qualitative research and its connection with the experience of an agent in the world, embodied cognition. This poster will show the development of a research proposal and how key literature and theoretical perspectives have informed the research design choices. Finally, we will address the theoretical background, the methodology, and the anticipated outcomes of the ongoing study design.
Understanding Twitter “Talk”: Blending Methodological Approaches to Explore the Provision of Support in UK Cancer Charities’ Twitter Feeds
Cathy Ure, University of Salford
Anna Cooper, University of Salford
Jenna Condie, University of Western Sydney
Understanding Twitter “talk” is methodologically challenging. This study aimed to identify how UK cancer charities present support to women living with and beyond breast cancer (LWBBC) through their Twitter feeds. Seven Hundred and seventy two tweets from a “constructed month” from seven purposively sampled cancer charities were used to explore Twitter interactions between charities and women LWBBC. Two questions were posed: (i) what type of support is provided by cancer charities on Twitter for women LWBBC and (ii) what themes emerge from tweet content pertaining to support for women LWBBC? A blended methodological approach was used. Firstly, a deductive content analysis was employed. This identified 26% (n = 199) of the tweet sample to relate to social support for women LWBBC; 56% of these tweets related to informational support, 27% to instrumental support, and 18% to emotional support. Then, an inductive qualitative thematic analysis of these 199 tweets identified the focus (i.e., themes) of the social support sought or provided. Three themes were identified (i) providing support, (ii) focusing on the future, and (iii) sharing stories. Utilising a blended approach provides greater understanding of what and how charities communicate support to women LWBBC through social media. Whilst it demonstrates a focus on information provision and limited dialogical engagement to support emotional needs, it also allows the issues considered pertinent to women LWBBC by cancer charities to be made visible. Through utilising this blended approach, I became aware of how my subjectivity influenced my preliminary interpretations of the data leading to further reflection and more rigorous analysis.
Student Nurses’ Experiences of a “Fairy Garden” Healing Haven Garden for Sick Children
Pamela van der Riet, The University of Newcastle
Chaweewan Jitsacorn, Boromarajonani College of Nursing
Piyatida Junlapeeya, Boromarajonani College of Nursing
The aim of this presentation is to explore the experiences of student nurses who have participated in formal and informal activities in a child-centred environment called a fairy garden within a hospital in Northern Thailand. Activities that can relieve stress support educational activities and improve opportunities for socialisation with other children can provide essential and positive experiences and so create a more calm and supportive environment to help the healing process. Narrative enquiry was selected as a methodology to capture the holistic notion of the participants’ experience. Furthermore, we have selected Clandinin’s framework as a way of establishing dimensions of context and explore the data/field text. Student nurses (from Boromrajonani College of Nursing in Thailand and University of Newcastle in Australia; N = 49) were interviewed in five focus groups. Findings in this study showed that the fairy garden offers a therapeutic modality of healing and includes story lines of happiness and relaxation, cooperation from the children, social interaction, and spirituality. Throughout student nurses’ stories, we were able to capture numerous story lines of the fairy garden creating a space for children that counterbalances the clinical environment of hospital as an alien place and improves the overall hospital experience of sick children and their families. This research offers valuable insight into the nature and space of healing environments to promote healing for sick children on emotional social and physical levels. It also offers insight into the nature and space of healing environments to assist sick children with their stress, especially children with chronic illness.
Using Descriptive Phenomenology
Lisa Wirihana, Queensland University of Technology
Anthony Welch, Central Queensland University
Moira Williamson, Central Queensland University
Martin Christensen, Queensland University of Technology
Phenomenology is both a philosophy and a research method. The use of descriptive phenomenology as a phenomenological approach to inquiry is beneficial when the phenomenon is poorly understood or not previously studied. An added benefit of phenomenological research is that it gives value to the everyday world of human beings. The choice of approach lies in what Husserl believed as being fundamental to this form of research, namely, that description is the closest approximation for the explication of how consciousness is experienced. This poster will discuss Husserl’s philosophy and demonstrate the use of Colaizzi’s (1978) method of data analyses, utilising an example of a descriptive phenomenological study of nurse academics at satellite campuses of Australian universities. The example will provide a detailed step-by-step demonstration of the application of Colaizzi’s data analyses method used in descriptive phenomenology.
Using Developmental Evaluation in Health Service Research: A Collaborative Approach to Qualitative Data Analysis
Sandra Woodhead Lyons, Institute for Continuing Care Education & Research
Gail V. Barrington, Barrington Research Group, Inc.
Steven Friesen, Bethany Care Society
Sharla King, University of Alberta
The literature on evaluating complex interventions seldom describes how qualitative and quantitative data are analyzed and integrated, particularly using a collaborative approach. This presentation describes how collaborative data analysis was employed in a 2014/2015 evaluation study which explored learning circles (LC) in continuing care facilities across Alberta. The collaborative learning model was intended to enhance resident care by providing staff with an informal way to address practice priorities. Using an appreciative inquiry philosophy and a developmental approach, the evaluation documented LC implementation; monitored successes, challenges, and outcomes; and evaluated the effectiveness of the learning approach. Data were collected across seven health-care organizations through the use of tracking forms, observation, surveys, focus groups, and interviews. To analyze these diverse data sets, the study’s logic model was used as an organizing framework. The evaluators coded each data set and then linked the information by topic into a comprehensive workbook that became the main resource used by the larger research team during an analysis workshop. The study’s findings, framed by the research questions, were explored in large and small group discussions and these were audio recorded, transcribed, summarized, validated by the team, and incorporated into the draft findings and conclusions. The conclusions were then validated by the study sites. This emergent and collaborative approach addressed the complexities inherent in these complex and distinct data sets and enhanced the richness of findings and the depth of study implications.
When Collaboration Is Both the Network and the Evaluation
Sandra Woodhead Lyons, Institute for Continuing Care Education & Research
Birgitta Larsson, BIM Larsson & Associates
Sharon Read, Excel Society
The Institute of Continuing Care Education and Research (ICCER), established in 2008, is a network of continuing care providers (CCPs) and postsecondary institutions (PSIs) collaborating to inform best care and quality of life for those served by the continuing care system. In 2015, ICCER began an evaluation process to determine what had been accomplished over the 7 years and what the benefits were for its members and target audiences. A taskforce was established with representation from both PSIs and CCPs and an evaluation consultant contracted. Given the collaborative nature of ICCER, it was natural that the evaluation be conducted in a collaborative method; the taskforce members and evaluator worked closely to frame the evaluation approach, to identify the key stakeholders to be included, and to support the data collection process. The evaluation was conducted using several qualitative methods (interviews, focus groups, and surveys). Once the data were collected, the evaluator chose to use the knowledge and skills of the taskforce members in interpreting the data and making sense of the findings in order to help prepare ICCER for meeting future challenges. This presentation will focus on the innovative collaborative approach of both ICCER and the evaluation process. It will emphasise the importance of using a flexible, developmental approach, while maintaining high evaluation standards.