Clinical
Our clinical nursing articles aim to inform and educate nurse practitioners and students. This is achieved through the publication of peer-reviewed, evidence-based, relevant and topical articles.
Using group concept mapping to explore the complexities of managing children’s care
Background Children whose assessed health needs cannot be met by statutory and universal services may require bespoke packages of continuing care. A project management group was set up to design a study that would explore the complexities for a children’s community nurse (CCN) of managing such packages. Methodology Group concept mapping (GCM), a mixed quantitative/qualitative participant-centred methodology, was used to obtain consensus from 20 CCNs about the complexities inherent in managing such packages and to develop a concept map that illustrated the emerging conceptual framework. Discussion The participants’ ideas were written as statements and analysed. Core analysis of a square symmetrical matrix through multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis was undertaken to produce a set of maps and reports. The final concept map was interpreted. It contained 99 statements organised into five conceptual clusters: ‘education and training’ (17 statements), ‘risk and safety’ (15 statements), ‘continuing care process’ (17 statements), ‘relationships and boundaries’ (22 statements) and ‘working with families’ (28 statements). Conclusion CCNs used GCM to explore their roles and responsibilities when managing children’s continuing care. Their resulting ideas were developed into a five-cluster conceptual framework that illustrated their views about the complexities of managing such care. Implications for practice The emergent conceptual framework enables CCNs to explore their practice in relation to managing packages of care. Additionally, the framework will be used to design a CCN workforce planning instrument that will be useful to measure complexity in CCN caseloads. The GCM methodology could be used by other nursing teams who wish to develop their practice.
Ethical challenges in accessing participants at a research site
Background One of the main requirements of qualitative research is to obtain access to participants. Researchers rely on gatekeepers for access to study sites and their communities of stakeholders, opportunities to communicate their studies to potential participants, and to locate meeting and interview spaces. Aim To share the challenges the authors encountered with gatekeepers during a study and how they managed these challenges. Discussion The authors conducted a focused ethnographic study in two healthcare organisations. Their goal was to recruit, interview and observe staff from across the institutions and a range of occupational groups, to explore their experiences of teamwork and the effects their work relationships had on their job satisfaction. Managers in the organisations were enthusiastic about the study, providing much needed support to the authors. However, the authors became concerned that staff might have felt inadvertently coerced to participate in the study. This challenged the authors’ notions of research ethics, prompting discussion about how to best manage aspects of the study, such as information sessions, snowball sampling and consent. Conclusion Explaining the principles of research ethics to gatekeepers can prevent them inadvertently making employees feel coerced into participating. Ensuring potential participants are fully aware of their rights and the voluntary nature of the study can make them more likely to participate. Implications for practice Before any study begins and frequently during the study, it is important that researchers discuss with potential participants and gatekeepers ethical principles, including confidentiality, anonymity and the right to participate or withdraw from the study.
Conducting nursing research in low-and middle-income countries
A reflexive account using a case-study methodology of experiences, challenges and solutions
Why undertake a clinical academic internship? A novice researcher’s reflection
Research internships offer nurses insight and exposure to a wealth of research
Narrative research methods with vulnerable people: sharing insights
Producing well-told narratives can transform practice
Innovations in dissemination: research participants sharing stories at a conference
Involving research participants can provide unique perspectives, but needs careful planning
Is Facebook a viable recruitment tool?
Background Effective participant recruitment strategies are crucial to the success of research studies. A targeted, well-designed recruitment plan provides researchers with a rich bed of information to fully explore research questions and achieve statistically significant responses. Aim To discuss the importance and methodology of participant recruitment in achieving reliability and validity, and to provide an example of a recent study that used Facebook to recruit participants and achieve statistically significant findings. Discussion A targeted Facebook recruitment campaign was highly successful in attracting qualified participants who could provide essential information relevant to the study’s research questions. A series of Facebook posts strategically targeted the population of interest and presented them with a short, ten-minute survey. It resulted in responses from 175 qualifying participants, achieving a statistical significance greater than 90%. Conclusion Successful recruitment strategies must provide access to the population of interest and in sufficient numbers to provide a good representative sample of the population of interest for the study. Facebook provides efficient cost-effective access to target populations. Implications for practice As communication technology advances, nurse researchers must learn to adapt to the changing avenues of communication to reach potential study participants. Effective recruitment and a good representative sample is the key to reliability, validity and transferability of research findings.
Using storylines for bilingual dissemination of a grounded theory
Disseminating findings through a storyline written in the local language
Decision-tables for inferential statistical tests in comparative and correlation studies
Structured decision-tables can help in choosing which statistical tests to use
Strategies for balancing internal and external validity in evaluations of interventions
Review of strategies in an evaluation of a cognitive-behavioural intervention for insomnia
Implementing the actor-partner interdependence model for dyadic data analysis
This article may help to create a more consistent framework for nurse researchers
Memory in narratives and stories: implications for nursing research
The meanings underpinning memories are central to qualitative enquiry and are to be valued