gms | German Medical Science

1. Background and relevance of the topic: Although single in-depth qualitative studies may be helpful in uncovering complex processes, they are frequently limited by the range of population groupings and study settings. To date, qualitative studies largely remain isolated works and as such results from qualitative research have little impact on clinical practice, research or health care policy. Thus, synthesising the findings of multiple qualitative studies in a meta-synthesis in order to generate synthesised knowledge is an ideal approach to addressing these limitations. Synthesising multiple qualitative studies on a certain topic lays the foundation stone for developing a robust theoretical basis for designing prospective, evidence-based interventions as recommended by the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework. Synthesised knowledge in the form of a qualitative meta-synthesis is a viable source of evidence to provide clinicians and health care professionals, politicians and policymakers with reliable information for decisions on future research and to bring a patient perspective into evidence-based practice.

2. Schedule:

• Welcome and overview of workshop (5 minutes)
• State-of-the-art overview of current qualitative meta-syntheses approaches: purpose, prerequisites and challenges (20 minutes)
• Questions and comments (10 minutes)
• Short introduction to the DFG funded study entitled “Exploring barriers and facilitators to self-care in heart failure patients” which applied the synthesis techniques described by Sandelowski and Barroso (2007) including aim and research question (10 minutes)
• Group work (in pairs of two): extracting and editing the findings from a primary study under the guidance of the workshop presenter (20 minutes)
• Presentation of group work to the whole plenum including discussion and exchange of experiences (15 minutes)
• Final questions from the plenum to the workshop presenter (10 minutes)

3. Justification for the format: After an input session, this hands-on workshop is an ideal format aiming at encouraging and training workshop participants in practical key techniques such as extracting and editing the findings from primary studies; a vital skill necessary in executing a qualitative meta-synthesis.

4. Teaching methods & aim of the workshop: Teaching methods encompass an input lecture, individual and group work as well as plenary discussions (think-pair-share). The target group for this workshop are researchers and/or clinicians with intermediate knowledge in qualitative research methodology. The aim of this workshop is to introduce participants to key concepts of synthesising qualitative research. Participants will be provided with an overview on the underlying working steps involved when executing a meta-synthesis, including the prerequisites and challenges associated with this methodology. Based on a real research project, participants will be given the opportunity to extract findings from a single qualitative study, a key technique in synthesis research. The maximum number of participants is 15.

• Workshop presenter: Dr Oliver R. Herber. Oliver is a senior lecturer/senior research fellow at the Institute of General Practice of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. Oliver has a background in nursing science as well as community health. He has recently completed a qualitative meta-synthesis in close liaison with Professor Julie Barroso (USA), one of the key founders of Sandelowski and Barroso’s approach for synthesising qualitative research.
• Key messages: (1) The purpose of synthesising qualitative research is to sum up knowledge generated in an area to draw conclusions relevant to practice or future research; (2) As a prerequisite, the research team should include research experts, clinical experts as well as information retrieval experts; (3) Qualitative research syntheses are – at least – three times removed from the lived experiences of the research participants they are meant to represent; (4) Sandelowski and Barroso (2007) [1] differentiate two large categories: qualitative meta-summary (aggregation of qualitative research findings) and qualitative meta-synthesis (interpretive integration of qualitative findings).

5. Presenter: Dr Oliver R. Herber

6. Submitting person: Dr Oliver R. Herber