Providing Palliative Care in a Swedish Support Home for People Who Are Homeless
Despite high frequencies of multiple, life-limiting conditions relating to palliative care needs, people who are homeless are one of the most underserved and rarely encountered groups in palliative care settings. Instead, they often die in care places where palliative competence is not available. In this qualitative single-case study, we explored the conditions and practices of palliative care from the perspective of staff at a Swedish support home for homeless people. Interpretive description guided the research process, and data were generated from repeated reflective conversations with staff in groups, individually, and...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 5, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Hakanson, C., Sandberg, J., Ekstedt, M., Kenne Sarenmalm, E., Christiansen, M., Öhlen, J. Tags: Seeking Wellness Source Type: research
Stepping Back From Crisis Points: The Provision and Acknowledgment of Support in an Online Suicide Discussion Forum
Suicide is a global health concern, though little is known about the social practices that might support those who are contemplating suicide. Online forums provide a unique insight into the anonymous discussion of suicide, including sociocultural norms about suicide and the delicate management of online interaction. In this article, we examine the provision and acknowledgment of support in an online discussion forum about suicide, using discursive psychology to analyze the textual interaction. The analysis illustrates how forum threads function as case studies and enable members to gain support on numerous occasions. In th...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 5, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Wiggins, S., McQuade, R., Rasmussen, S. Tags: Seeking Wellness Source Type: research
Talking About Looking: Three Approaches to Interviewing Carers of People With Rheumatoid Arthritis About Information Seeking
Given the profusion of illness-related information, in this article, we consider how talking about information seeking—and in particular Internet use—is difficult, not because it is necessarily a highly sensitive topic (though it may be), but rather due to the unusual and unfamiliar situation of talking about information seeking. Drawing on interviews conducted as part of a study on the educational needs of carers of people with rheumatoid arthritis, we compare three types of interview for understanding online information seeking: interviews (recall), researcher-led observation (joining participant at the compu...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 5, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Lee, R. P., Thompson, B., Whybrow, P., Rapley, T. Tags: Pears, Pith, & amp;amp; Provocation Source Type: research
Roads Less Traveled: Finding a Path to Using Complementary and Alternative Medicine
An increasing number of health seekers in the United States are looking outside conventional medicine to address their health needs. It is estimated that in the United States, 38% of adults use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Extant research characterizes CAM users as a unified homogeneous group, with little understanding of the differences among them in terms of attitudes toward body, wellness, disease, and pivotal aspects of their personal histories. In this article, we seek to better understand the nuances of who uses CAM and why, using the following questions: How do people communicate their life stories ...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 5, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Ramadurai, V., Sharf, B. F., Ramasubramanian, S. Tags: Seeking Wellness Source Type: research
Depression Narratives in Blogs: A Collaborative Quest for Coherence
People with depression often suffer from severe social seclusion, and the lack of an agreed upon etiology for depression makes it difficult to satisfactorily narrate and "ritually control" it. Focusing on blogs by women with major depression, I delineate the ways in which bloggers publicly express and collaboratively reconstruct their depression narratives. Specifically, using thematic analysis, I argue that depression blogs uniquely bridge between the seclusion that characterizes depression and the exposure offered in blogs, and thus offer people a rare opportunity to publicly share very intimate depression narratives, fo...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 5, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Kotliar, D. M. Tags: Seeking Wellness Source Type: research
"Its Not Like You Need to Live 10 or 20 Years": Challenges to Patient-Centered Care in Gynecologic Oncologist-Patient Interactions
The literature suggests that the patient-perspective approach (i.e., eliciting and responding to patients’ perspectives, including beliefs, preferences, values, and attitudes) to patient-centered care (PCC) is not a reliable predictor of positive outcomes; however, little is known about why the patient-perspective approach does not necessarily lead to positive outcomes. By using discourse analysis to examine 44 segments of oncologist–patient interactions, we found that providers’ use of patient-perspective contextualization can affect the quality of care through (a) constructing the meanings of patient co...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 5, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Hsieh, E., Bruscella, J., Zanin, A., Kramer, E. M. Tags: Seeking Wellness Source Type: research
Finding Motivation: Online Information Seeking Following Newborn Screening for Cystic Fibrosis
This article, guided by self-determination theory, aimed at providing understanding of psychological needs and motivation for health information seeking and active communication about CF. Through online communication with other families who share similar experience, caregivers of newborns diagnosed with CF sought and received support for their competence, autonomy, and relatedness needs during the initial CF testing and diagnosis reconciliation process. Online communities play an important role in the information seeking related to CF diagnosis and could become active partners in strategic knowledge dissemination efforts. ...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 5, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Strekalova, Y. A. Tags: Seeking Wellness Source Type: research
Living Well? Strategies Used by Women Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer
Metastatic breast cancer is a disease of changing status—once an imminent death sentence, now a chronic (albeit incurable) disease. Medical intervention advances mean women with metastatic breast cancer now have symptoms alleviated and, potentially, life extended. Living with this disease, however, requires more than a medical approach to symptoms. We were interested to know whether women manage, and if so, how, to "live well" with metastatic cancer. We conducted interviews with 18 women. Women differed in the approaches they used. Most common was the attempt to reestablish a sense of normality in their lives. Howeve...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - June 5, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Lewis, S., Willis, K., Yee, J., Kilbreath, S. Tags: Seeking Wellness Source Type: research
Concept Mapping: A Dynamic, Individualized and Qualitative Method for Eliciting Meaning
The purpose of this theoretical article is to explore the use of concept mapping as a qualitative research method that is represented as a form of multimodal communication. This framework strives to move mapping beyond quantitative analysis by inserting art and humanness into the process. This proposed framework provides a means to highlight the ways in which people learn, understand, and interpret the world around them. Three categories for understanding have been identified by the authors to help individuals create, interpret, and understand qualitative concept maps. These categories include the following: Voice: Tri-dir...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - May 31, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Wilson, J., Mandich, A., Magalhaes, L. Tags: Methods Source Type: research
"There Are No Known Benefits . . .": Considering the Risk/Benefit Ratio of Qualitative Research
Institutional review boards (IRBs) are responsible for weighing the risks and benefits of research participation. Qualitative researchers note numerous instances where IRB ethical frameworks fail to align with the ethics of their research projects and point out that IRB understandings of the benefits and risks of research often differ from those of the participants they seek to protect. This qualitative cross-case research investigates participants’ interview experiences in six qualitative studies that differed in their methods, subject of focus, and populations. Our findings indicate that contemporary IRBs’ us...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - May 31, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Opsal, T., Wolgemuth, J., Cross, J., Kaanta, T., Dickmann, E., Colomer, S., Erdil-Moody, Z. Tags: Ethics Source Type: research
Challenges in Exploratory Methods for Tuberculosis Research in South Africa
We present three case studies as useful illustrations of the complexities and challenges we encountered in our attempts to conduct ethically sound TB research. We discuss the implications of our call for "improvisation" for the politics of research and ethical oversight. (Source: Qualitative Health Research)
Source: Qualitative Health Research - May 31, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Macdonald, H., Abney, K., Abrams, A., Truyts, C. Tags: Piths Source Type: research
Educating Parents About Pediatric Research: Children and Clinical Studies Website Qualitative Evaluation
A gap in information about pediatric clinical trials exists, and parents remain uncertain about what is involved in research studies involving children. We aimed to understand parent perspectives about pediatric clinical research after viewing the online Children and Clinical Studies (CaCS) program. Using a qualitative descriptive study design, we conducted focus groups with parents and phone interviews with physicians. Three themes emerged providing approaches to improve parent’s understanding of clinical research by including strategies where parents (a) hear from parents like themselves to learn about pediatric re...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - May 31, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Marceau, L. D., Welch, L. C., Pemberton, V. L., Pearson, G. D. Tags: General Articles Source Type: research
Shame Experiences Underlying Depression of Adult Turkish Women
Shame is a major component of many mental health problems and affects symptoms, coping styles, remission, and therapeutic ruptures. There are few qualitative studies aimed at understanding shame and its role for patients diagnosed with depression. In this research, we explored the origins of shame, and the coping strategies that patients diagnosed with depression employ to cope with shame. This qualitative research aimed at an in-depth analysis of shame experiences of adult women who had been diagnosed with depression and treated with cognitive behavioral psychotherapy in a Women Health Center in Turkey. Purposive sampling...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - May 31, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Sarı, S., Gencöz, F. Tags: General Articles Source Type: research
Medical Residents Experiences With Medically Unexplained Illness and Medically Unexplained Symptoms
Patients who present with medically unexplained illnesses or medically unexplained symptoms (MUI/S) tend to be higher utilizers of health care services and have significantly greater health care costs than other patients, which add stress and strain for both the patient and provider. Although MUI/S are commonly seen in primary care, there is not sufficient information available regarding how providers can increase their level of confidence and decrease their level of frustration when working with patients who present with MUI/S. The goal of this article is to present findings from a qualitative phenomenology study, which h...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - May 31, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Harsh, J., Hodgson, J., White, M. B., Lamson, A. L., Irons, T. G. Tags: General Articles Source Type: research
Feelings and Intersubjectivity in Qualitative Suicide Research
In this article, we explore how feelings permeated our qualitative research on suicide. Drawing on phenomenological theory, we argue for the epistemic and ethical importance of the feelings that emerge through research encounters, considering them to be embodied, intersubjective, and multilayered, and requiring careful interpretation through a "reflexivity of feelings." We sketch a tentative framework of the ways that we experienced feelings in our research and give three in-depth examples to illustrate some of the different layers and types of feelings we identified. We reflexively interpret these feelings and their role ...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - May 31, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Boden, Z. V. R., Gibson, S., Owen, G. J., Benson, O. Tags: General Articles Source Type: research
