Design and feasibility testing of a novel group intervention for young women who binge drink in groups.

Background: Young women frequently drink alcohol in groups and binge drinking within these natural drinking groups is common. This study describes the design of a theoretically and empirically based group intervention to reduce binge drinking among young women. It also evaluates their engagement with the intervention and the acceptability of the study methods.

Email communication at the medical primary-secondary care interface: a qualitative exploration.

Background: There is little published research into the influence of email communication between primary and secondary care clinicians on patient care.

Aim: To explore the use of email communication between clinicians across the primary- secondary care interface, and how this may relate to patient care.

Design And Setting: A qualitative study involving primary and secondary care services in the NHS Highland Health Board area, Scotland.

The relationship between GPs and hospital consultants and the implications for patient care: a qualitative study.

Background: Improving the quality of care of at the medical primary-secondary care interface is both a national and a wider concern. In a qualitative exploration of clinicians' relationship at the interface, we want to study how both GPs and hospital specialists regard and behave towards each other and how this may influence patient care.

Method: A qualitative interview study was carried out in primary and secondary care centres in NHS Highland health board area, Scotland.

Patients' perspectives on the medical primary-secondary care interface: systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research.

Objectives: To synthesise the published literature on the patient experience of the medical primary-secondary care interface and to determine priorities for future work in this field aimed at improving clinical outcomes.

Design: Systematic review and metaethnographic synthesis of primary studies that used qualitative methods to explore patients' perspectives of the medical primary-secondary care interface.

Setting: International primary-secondary care interface.

Promoting family-focused approaches within adult drug services: the potential of the 'Senses Framework'.

Background: Policies across countries promote family-focused engagement with adult drugs services however this is rarely offered routinely and relationships with carers are often poor. Research in mental health and older people's services suggests that improving the relationships between carers and service providers is fundamental to enhancing the quality of services. One example is the Senses Framework which assesses the extent to which services are relationship-centred and provides deeper insight into the areas that require further improvement.

Counselling in the context of fertility and cancer: some sociological insights.

Guidelines issued by a number of bodies highlight the importance of providing information on fertility for young adults receiving a cancer diagnosis. However, previous research has established that provision is uneven and even when information is available, counselling may not be offered. This paper draws on interviews with 15 professionals and 30 younger adults (17-39 years) following a diagnosis of cancer at one tertiary referral centre.

Carer involvement with drug services: a qualitative study.

Background: Empirical research suggests that involving carers brings benefits to families and services. Consequently, drug-related policy and guidance has increasingly encouraged drug services to involve carers at all levels of service provision.

Objective: To explore the purpose and scope of carer involvement with adult drug services in North-east Scotland.

Dysarthria following stroke: the patient's perspective on management and rehabilitation.

Objective: To explore the perceptions of people with stroke-related dysarthria in relation to the management and rehabilitation of dysarthria.

Design: Qualitative semi-structured interviews.

Setting: Community setting Subjects: Twenty-four people with an acquired dysarthria as a result of a stroke in the previous three years.

The impact of stroke-related dysarthria on social participation and implications for rehabilitation.

Introduction: Each year an estimated 30,000-45,000 UK individuals experience stroke-related dysarthria (impairment of movements required to produce speech). Many will experience persistent dysarthria long after discharge from stroke services. Although we have some insight into the impact of other communication impairments, we have very limited information on the impact of dysarthria on social participation.

Ambiguity and uncertainty: the ongoing concerns of male partners of women treated for breast cancer.

As the prevalence of breast cancer increases, survival improves and short stay or outpatient care become the norm, greater numbers of men will be involved in providing care and support for their partners at home. This qualitative study explored the experiences of 26 male partners of women who had completed treatment for breast cancer. A questionnaire was developed in order to collect background information and to provide a pool for further qualitative sampling.

Patients' experiences of disruptions associated with post-stroke dysarthria.

Background: Post-stroke dysarthria rehabilitation should consider social participation for people with dysarthria, but before this approach can be adopted, an understanding of the psychosocial impact of dysarthria is required. Despite the prevalence of dysarthria as a result of stroke, there is a paucity of research into this communication disorder, particularly studies that address the experiences of individuals. The available literature focuses mainly on the perceptions of others or includes groups of mixed aetiologies.

The work of health visitors and school nurses with children with psychological and behavioural problems.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study to describe the workload of health visitors and school nurses in relation to children and young people with psychological, emotional or behavioural problems, and to identify perceived challenges, obstacles and sources of satisfaction associated with this aspect of their work.

Background: There is little published information on the work performed by non-specialist community nurses with children and young people who have psychological, emotional and behavioural problems.

Method: We analysed data from a survey conducted in 2002 - 2003 of 1049 Scottish professionals working with children and young people.

Health visitors' assessments of parent-child relationships: a focus group study.

Background: Health visitors (HVs), also known as public health nurses, in the UK provide a universal community-based service to preschool children and their parents. Since they have ongoing supportive contact with almost all mothers and young children they have opportunities to identify problems in the parent-infant relationship: for example during developmental screening, home visits and immunisation clinics. Research into the role of screening for problems in the parent-child relationship in early childhood is sparse and little is known about how such problems are currently identified in the community.

A research study of sources of support for bottle feeding in new mothers.

This paper asks if there is a difference in mothers' perceptions of the support they receive about bottle feeding from a range of professional and non-professional sources. The findings are put into the context of associated demographic characteristics. It forms part of a larger study, which was a longitudinal postal survey of 500 childbearing women across two health board regions in Scotland.

Involving deprived communities in improving the quality of primary care services: does participatory action research work?

Background: Participation by communities in improving the quality of health services has become a feature of government policy in the United Kingdom. The aim of the study was to involve a deprived community in the UK in shaping quality improvements of local primary care services. The specific objectives were firstly to create participation by local people in evaluating the primary care services available in the area and secondly to bring about change as a result of this process.

Using focus groups in disability research.

Qualitative health service research has increasingly drawn on focus groups to inform health policy and intervention design. Focus groups provide opportunities to engage in the development and evaluation of health services for those service users who are often excluded from other forms of data collection. Increasingly, people with disabilities have been recognized as a marginalized group in health research.

A realist study of the mechanisms of cardiac rehabilitation.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to report patients' experiences of cardiac rehabilitation and perceptions of the mechanisms and contexts influencing its long-term effectiveness.

Background: Cardiac rehabilitation programmes for the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease are common. The effects of these programmes, however, can be inconsistent and little is known of the personal and contextual factors that influence service effectiveness.

Making sense of focus groups.

Context: This paper provides an overview of the contribution of medical education research which has employed focus group methodology to evaluate both undergraduate education and continuing professional development.

Practicalities And Problems: It also examines current debates about the ethics and practicalities involved in conducting focus group research. It gives guidance as to how to go about designing and planning focus group studies, highlighting common misconceptions and pitfalls, emphasising that most problems stem from researchers ignoring the central assumptions which underpin the qualitative research endeavour.

Promoting participation in cardiac rehabilitation: patient choices and experiences.

Background: Cardiac rehabilitation can be an effective means for the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, but a majority of eligible individuals fail to attend or drop out prematurely. Little research has examined patients' decisions about attendance.

Aims: This paper reports a study examining patients' beliefs and decision-making about cardiac rehabilitation attendance.

Clients or citizens? Some considerations for primary care organisations.

Health services policy in the United Kingdom has given prominence to patient and public participation within a 'modernization' agenda. The superficial consensus in support of lay participation masks a conflicting array of ideologies and theoretical perspectives that colour how this is interpreted. Both client-oriented perspectives and citizenship-oriented approaches are limited by the dynamics of power relationships and decision-making processes within National Health Service structures.

Sickness certification system in the United Kingdom: qualitative study of views of general practitioners in Scotland.

Objectives: To explore how general practitioners operate the sickness certification system, their views on the system, and suggestions for change.

Design: Qualitative focus group study consisting of 11 focus groups with 67 participants.

Setting: General practitioners in practices in Glasgow, Tayside, and Highland regions, Scotland.

Adherence to advance directives in critical care decision making: vignette study.

Objective: To explore health professionals' decision making in a critical care scenario when there is an advance directive.

Design: Qualitative study.

Setting: Scotland.

The newfound credibility of qualitative research? Tales of technical essentialism and co-option.

Qualitative research is no longer the "poor relation" to quantitative research that it has been in the past. However, it is important to monitor the manner in which it is becoming incorporated into the mainstream. In this article, the author examines current dangers and challenges by critically reviewing current developments affecting our own research practice.

Health professionals' views on advance directives: a qualitative interdisciplinary study.

The aim of this study was to discover the views of health professionals in the Greater Glasgow area on advance directives, using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The twelve participants interviewed included four hospital doctors, four general practitioners (GPs) and four nurses. The six focus groups comprised hospice nurses, GPs, consultant geriatricians, geriatricians in training grades and an interdisciplinary group.