Revisiting Symbolic Interactionism as a Theoretical Framework Beyond the Grounded Theory Tradition
The tight bond between grounded theory (GT) and symbolic interactionism (SI) is well known within the qualitative health research field. We aimed to disentangle this connection through critical reflection on the conditions under which it might add value as an underpinning to studies outside the GT tradition. Drawing on an examination of the central tenets of SI, we illustrate with a field study using interpretive description as methodology how SI can be applied as a theoretical lens through which layers of socially constructed meaning can help surface the subjective world of patients. We demonstrate how SI can function as ...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - July 16, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Handberg, C., Thorne, S., Midtgaard, J., Nielsen, C. V., Lomborg, K. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Barriers to Qualitative Dementia Research: The Elephant in the Room
As our population is aging, the global prevalence of dementia is rising. Recent extensive reviews of the dementia literature highlight a clear need for additional qualitative research to address the experiences of people with dementia and their carers. To date, the vast majority of published dementia research is quantitative in nature and, perhaps not surprisingly, attracts the bulk of government funding. In contrast, qualitative dementia research is poorly resourced and less frequently published. Although a myriad of factors are responsible for this dichotomy, we propose that inadequate funding represents the "elephant in...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Carmody, J., Traynor, V., Marchetti, E. Tags: Pearls, Pith, and Provocation Source Type: research
Emerging Practice Concerning Vitamin D in Primary Care
The establishment of practice patterns concerning the diagnosis and management of hypovitaminosis D seems to be heterogeneous among primary care physicians. We conducted a qualitative study to explore the emerging practices among primary care providers regarding screening and treatment for hypovitaminosis D, as well as factors that influence practice patterns. Trained researchers facilitated focus groups among primary care providers. We followed a grounded theory approach to transcript coding and analysis using ATLAS.ti analysis software. Testing or screening for hypovitaminosis D and subsequent replacement or supplementat...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Epling, J. W., Mader, E. M., Roseamelia, C. A., Morley, C. P. Tags: Evidence for Practice Source Type: research
The Ethics of an Ordinary Medical Technology
Some routinely applied hospital technologies may have unintended consequences for patients and their families. The neonatal cardiorespiratory monitor, a computer-like display used to show an infant’s vital functions, is one such technology that may become part of a parent’s day-to-day being with his or her hospitalized child. In this phenomenological study, I explored how the monitor may mediate parental sensibilities, reshaping the contact of parent and child. This exploration speaks to understanding the relational ethics of even the seemingly most ordinary of medical technologies in clinical contexts. (Source...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: van Manen, M. A. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Experiences of Cancer Caregiving in Socioeconomically Deprived Areas of Attica, Greece
The shift of the majority of cancer care from inpatient to outpatient settings has given rise to a number of issues that have not yet been adequately addressed. This is especially true in countries undergoing rapid and profound socioeconomic changes that have substantially affected the health care sector. We conducted 12 in-depth interviews with family cancer caregivers residing in socioeconomically deprived areas of Attica, Greece. Using an inductive thematic approach, we identified three major themes: (a) the truth within boundaries, focusing on the flow of information in the triad doctor–caregiver–patient; (...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Germeni, E., Sarris, M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
African American Women's Breastfeeding Experiences: Cultural, Personal, and Political Voices
The low rate of breastfeeding among African American women in the United States is a poorly understood, persistent disparity. Our purpose in this study was to gain an understanding of how African American women experience breastfeeding in the context of their day-to-day lives. The Sequential-Consensual Qualitative Design (SCQD), a 3-stage qualitative methodology aimed at exploring the cultural, personal, and political context of phenomena, was used to explore the experiences of African American women who felt successful with breastfeeding. An integration of qualitative content analysis and Black feminist theory was used to...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Spencer, B., Wambach, K., Domain, E. W. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Characteristics of Lifelong Physically Active Older Adults
Most adults in developed countries fail to accrue enough regular physical activity to prevent or decrease the impact of chronic diseases associated with aging. I conducted semistructured interviews with 16 purposely selected older adults ranging in age from 53 to 70 years to explore the practices of successful lifelong adherents to physical activity. I used an interpretive descriptive approach to data analysis. My findings suggest that both social and competitive motivations were important during early adulthood, although for many participants the latter were more likely to endure over time. Based on these findings, I reco...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Chatfield, S. L. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Accounting for Psychotropic Medication Changes in Prisons: Patient and Doctor Perspectives
Psychotropic medicines are widely used to treat mental illness; however, people entering prison commonly report that prescribed psychotropic medicines are changed or withdrawn, adding to their distress in difficult times. Drawing on three extracts from a larger qualitative dataset in which patients and doctors were interviewed about psychotropic medication use in English prisons, we combined discursive psychological and Foucauldian discourse analysis techniques to examine how individuals accounted for medication changes. Patients used four discursive strategies to organize descriptions of medication changes: they establish...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Hassan, L., Edge, D., Senior, J., Shaw, J. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Exploring the Experiences of People With Hypo- and Hyperthyroidism
Thyroid diseases evoke a complex range of psychological and physical symptoms. The psychosocial aspects of living with diseases causing hypo- or hyperthyroidism are poorly understood. In this article, we report the findings of a qualitative interview study in which we explored the lived experiences of 16 people with hypo- or hyperthyroidism. We purposefully selected participants from Danish outpatient clinics according to their diagnosis (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or Graves’ disease with or without orbitopathy), age (18 to 65 years), and duration of treatment (more than 6 months). We used interpretative phenomeno...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Nexo, M. A., Watt, T., Cleal, B., Hegedus, L., Bonnema, S. J., Rasmussen, A. K., Feldt-Rasmussen, U., Bjorner, J. B. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
The Healing Journey: Help Seeking for Self-Injury Among a Community Population
Help seeking is known to be a complex and difficult journey for people who self-injure. In this article, we explore the process of help seeking from the perspective of a group of people living in Northern Ireland with a history of self-injury. We conducted 10 semistructured interviews and employed a grounded theory approach to data analysis. We created two major categories from the interview transcript data: (a) "involution of feeling," which depicts participants’ perspectives on barriers to help seeking; and (b) "to be treated like a person," in which participants communicate their experiences of help seeking. The f...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Long, M., Manktelow, R., Tracey, A. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Same Agency, Different Teams: Perspectives From Home and Inpatient Hospice Care
Tremendous growth in hospice over the past 30 years in the United States has increased the number of terminally ill patients dying at home. Recently, however, more hospice patients are dying at inpatient facilities. To understand the varying perceptions about care in the home and inpatient hospice, we conducted semistructured interviews with 24 interdisciplinary team (IDT) members and analyzed the data using the constant comparative method. Core interdisciplinary tasks, including identifying the focus of energy, tailoring family caregiver involvement, acknowledging who is in charge, and knowing both sides differed in the h...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Lysaght Hurley, S., Barg, F. K., Strumpf, N., Ersek, M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Foucault, Surveillance, and Carbon Monoxide Testing Within Stop-Smoking Services
Health professionals have adopted proactive testing for early evidence of disease. Researchers have identified that this leads to enumerated understandings and shapes behavior in productive ways. Smoking-cessation advisors regularly test clients for carbon monoxide (CO), but client views of this had not previously been explored. We interviewed 23 clients of a United Kingdom-based stop-smoking service regarding their experiences of CO testing. The majority of participants were successful quitters. We used ATLAS.ti 7 as a data-management tool during structured qualitative analysis. Our findings reveal that clients believed t...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Grant, A., Ashton, K., Phillips, R. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Families, Markets, and Medicalization: The Role of Paid Support for Childbirth and Breastfeeding
Much attention has been given to the commercialization of care and its relationship to the outsourcing of family life, as well as larger social and cultural processes that can change the nature of caring. I engage with this question of why certain aspects of care are provided by the market, using 72 interviews with lactation consultants, doulas, clients, and clinicians, as well as 150 hours of ethnographic observation in the USA. Examining how participants understood the role of these services in the maternity care system and the reasons why clients turned to these services, I found that, in several ways, these forms of ca...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Torres, J. M. C. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
From Patient to Therapatient: Social Work Students Coping With Mental Illness
We explored the experiences of social work students with psychiatric difficulties and focused on their challenges as they went through the different stages of development as health care professionals. We interviewed 12 social work students with psychiatric difficulties and analyzed the data using the immersion/crystallization method. The findings reveal the developmental process they underwent from being patients to being "therapatients" (therapists who are also patients; here, therapists coping with psychiatric difficulties). This process included four stages: an initial exploration of the health care world; questioning t...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Goldberg, M., Hadas-Lidor, N., Karnieli-Miller, O. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Learning to do Better: The Transactional Model of Diabetes Self-Management Integration
In this article I examine the process by which low-income (mostly minority) women develop the skills to integrate diabetes self-management into daily life and the conditions that affect the process. I present and describe a multimethod approach, including semistructured interviews, photo elicitation, time geographic diaries, and a standardized assessment which were used to collect data from 10 low-income women with type 2 diabetes, ages 40 to 64 years, between July and December 2012. I describe the grounded theory approach to data analysis which facilitated the development of the Transactional Model of Diabetes Self-Manage...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 2, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Fritz, H. A. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
