9.3.3 A critique of interviewing parents together when exploring their experiences of making decision about illness symptoms in their child (192)

Joanna Smith, Lecturer in Children’s Nursing and part-time PhD student, University of Leeds, School of Healthcare, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom hcsjsm@leeds.ac.uk

Abstract:

Background

Interviewing is the most common data collection method in qualitative studies and typically conducted face-to-face with an individual participant (Fontana and Frey 2000). This may not be appropriate when seeking to understand family experiences. The type of research question should guide the researcher in relation to interviewing family members jointly or separately (Hertz 1995). There is a lack of literature or guidance relating to interviewing families together (Hertz 1995).

Aim:

To understand the decision-making processes of parents when seeking help for their child with a long-term condition; shunted hydrocephalus.

Methods:

  • Cross-sectional interview based study employing qualitative methods
  • Purposive sampling strategy ensured a range of experiences were represented
  • Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 mothers and 10 fathers
  • Data analysis was underpinned by the framework approach. NVivo was used to assist with data management.

Findings:

Parents within the same family described different approaches to managing their child’s condition. However, parents appeared to be able to differentiate between symptoms of other childhood illnesses and those that may indicate a shunt problem. Parents’ decision making linked the 3 overarching concepts that emerged from the study: becoming an expert, uncertainty and striving for normality.

Discussion:

Joint interviewing is a way of gaining insight about the decision making processes of couples through observing interactions between them during the interview (Racher 2003). Challenges relate to data management and analysis for example whether to analyse the data as one joint interview or two separate interviews. This was resolved by coding interview transcripts separately to aid retrieval in Nvivo but considering as a whole when interpreting the themes and sub-themes, their development and associations.

Conclusion:

By interviewing both parents together the types of decisions and negotiations relating to the meaning of illness symptoms in their child were evident.

Recommended reading list:

  • Fontana A, Frey JH (2000) From Structured questions to negotiated text. In Denzin Nk, Lincoln Y ed. Handbook of qualitative research. 2nd edition, Sage USA
  • Hertz R (1995) Separate but simultaneous interviewing of husbands and wives: making sense of their stories. Qualitative Inquiry 1 (4): 429 -451
  • Racher FE (2003) Using conjoint interviews to research the lived experience of elderly rural couples. Nurse Researcher 10 (3): 60-72

Source of Funding: N/A

Amount in Funding: N/A

Biography:

Qualified as a registered sick children’s nurse in 1988 and have worked in a range of acute children’s surgical specialities, complex paediatric surgery, neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery and plastic surgery, and day care prior to entering nurse education in 1999. Current responsibilities include the management and delivery of the children’s neurosciences modules. Currently undertaking PhD studies relating to childhood hydrocephalus: understanding the experiences of the family living with a child with shunted hydrocephalus, and supporting parents to meet the healthcare needs of their child.