Capturing the Insights of Family Caregivers: Survey Item Generation With a Coupled Interview/Focus Group Process

Abstract

The usefulness of qualitative methodologies to augment and enrich quantitative studies is often overlooked. The authors' goals are to describe the qualitative process employed to generate survey items and to compare the results to those of studies that used different methodologies for item generation. The study identified barriers to and benefits of memory assessments. The survey item generation methodology, which involved 24 key informant interviews and 3 focus groups, resulted in the identification of 31 barrier and 28 benefit items. The 34 unique items were rated among the most important by survey respondents. The authors, therefore, present a strong case for generating survey items using informant interviews as groundwork for focus groups.

Quality of Life of Caregivers of Children With Congenital Glaucoma: Development and Validation of a Novel Questionnaire (CarCGQoL)

“…They are especially useful for exploration of phenomena and experiences that are generally poorly understood, when the literature or expert opinion may not capture all relevant issues pertinent to the questionnaires intended for the target population. 25,26 Put simply, focus groups are a method where the developers of questionnaires gain an ''insider perspective'' from those for whom the questionnaire is intended to be used. 27,28 For phase I of the study, caregivers were invited when they accompanied their child for follow-up care to the LVPEI between December 2006 and May 2008 (i.e., at least 6 months after surgery).…”

How is shared decision-making defined among African-Americans with diabetes?

“…Focus groups, on the other hand, afford social interactions that stimulate group members to confirm, refute, or expand on other group members’ reports [34]. Because focus groups allow exploration of interaction on a given topic and provide evidence for similarities and differences in participants’ opinions, our focus groups enabled the elicitation of broader cultural experiences [32].…”

Exploring non-health outcomes of health promotion: The perspective of participants in a lifestyle behaviour change intervention

“…A combination of semi-structured interviews (SIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) was used, because previous research suggests that this type of triangulation of qualitative methods may enhance understanding of the phenomenon studied (here: non-health outcomes) [23,24]. SIs give respondents the opportunity to elaborate on their experiences more in detail and share information they find too personal to discuss in a group, while FGDs provide a greater breadth of perspectives [25,26].…”