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3.) New
Patient Group
Effective
symptom control has life-cycle, cultural and social dimensions.
Children may need different interventions from adults. Dying people
may have different priorities for comfort than people with chronic
symptoms. Transitions in goals of care may require or facilitate
implementing new symptom control techniques. People may have different
cultural, religious or education/social class beliefs and behavior,
which affect what symptom control interventions are acceptable
to them. We often know little about caring for patients with different
backgrounds from our own. Do some of your patients need a different
approach?
4.) Causes
and Effects
Quantitative
analyses yield correlations, which are often difficult
to translate into causes and effects. You can
test some hypotheses about causation using qualitative
methods. One example is trying to make sense of
a failed intervention. Sometimes a well-planned
intervention, with documentation of implementation,
a large enough sample size and appropriate analyses
shows no positive effect. Qualitative methods
are useful in looking for explanations. An example
is the SUPPORT study. For a bibliography with
background information about this extremely influential
study, click
here.
A brief overview
of using qualitative methods in health research appeared in the
British Medical Journal "Qualitative
Research: Reaching the Parts Other Methods Cannot Reach: An Introduction
to Qualitative Methods In Health and Health Services Research."
(Pope and Mays, 1995).
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