New research guidance could help improve patient care
In the UK, a University of Stirling-led study has developed new research guidance that could lead to improved patient care and outcomes. The study has led to the creation of the first-ever tailored reporting guidance for a methodology known as meta-ethnography and is expected to give researchers and healthcare bosses greater confidence in the findings of qualitative studies and result in an improvement to patient care and services.
“To create high-quality, patient-focused health services, we need to consider why and how they work – and people’s experiences of using them,” said Dr Emma France of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport and the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Unit, who led the study. “Information about people’s experiences of health services and care should play a major role in improving NHS services, but individual studies of this kind are often seen as anecdotal, so rarely influence decision making. Pulling together evidence from many existing qualitative studies, including those using patient interviews or focus groups, can shed light on important factors, such as why patients or health professionals behave in a certain way, or what it’s like to experience an illness.”
Meta-ethnography involves systematically comparing conceptual data from primary qualitative studies to identify and develop new overarching concepts, theories and models and enables researchers to combine the findings of qualitative studies, rather than concentrating on the individual cases. The quality of the reporting of meta-ethnographies is often poor but Dr France and her team have, for the first time, provided bespoke guidance on this approach to improve reporting of data collection and analysis.
“We have developed guidance to assist researchers in carrying out quality meta-ethnographies and reporting them to a high standard, meaning this rich information can be used to create better decision-making and improve outcomes for patients,” said Dr France. “The guidance will help to provide new insights and conclusions regarding specific health topics; for example, people’s experiences of being treated for a certain type of illness. Ultimately, improving the way researchers report meta-ethnographies will help to ensure that the best use is made of research evidence for the benefit of people who use health and social care services.”