Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Research Methods & Reporting

Use of serial qualitative interviews to understand patients’ evolving experiences and needs

BMJ 2009; 339 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b3702 (Published 28 September 2009) Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3702

Rapid Response:

Serial qualitative interviews: an essential element of service design and evaluation for long-term conditions.

Dear Sirs

We read with great interest your paper, Use of serial interviews to
understand understanding patients’ evolving experiences and needs. The
points raised echo those encountered in our own study in which a series of
interviews was conducted over the course of 18 months with young adults
post-stroke and members of their families.(1)

Our experience has shown that longitudinal interviews highlight how
the needs and desired outcomes of patients and their families change over
time. For instance, following stroke, young adults’ short-term priorities
and needs were focused on diagnosis and medical treatment, and
psychological support whereas in the longer term priorities and needs
focused on psychological support and meaningful, functional rehabilitation
e.g. ability to return to work and the resumption of driving.

Recruitment was a challenge for us. Although we worked closely with
healthcare professionals, it proved difficult recruiting patients of whom
the professionals felt ‘protective’, in this instance people with young
adults with aphasia. Attrition was also a feature noted in our study,
often related to extraneous life events rather than events associated with
stroke. However, as noted, the sustained relationship developed between
the researcher and the participants enabled the conduct of subsequent
interviews.

The issue of serial consent was addressed by prefacing each
subsequent interview with a reminder of the purpose of the study, why the
individual had been asked to participate and reminding them of their right
to leave the study at any point, without prejudice. However, over all, we
found that participants were enthusiastic participants who engaged with
the researcher with increasing degrees of frankness and honesty over the
course of a series of interviews.

Conducting serial qualitative interviews as a means of ascertaining
changing patient-centred needs, should be considered an essential part of
the planning process when designing and evaluating services for long-term
conditions.

1 Lawrence M. Patient-centred stroke care: young adults and their
families. PhD thesis. Glasgow: Glasgow Caledonian University, 2009.

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

06 October 2009
Maggie Lawrence
Research Fellow
Sue Kinn, Research Manager, DFID
School of Health, K413 Buchanan House, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA