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-->Citation: Cohen D, Crabtree B. "Qualitative Research Guidelines Project." July 2006.
Nih-funded qualitative research.
The decision to conduct interviews, and the type of interviewing to use, should flow from, or align with, the methodological paradigm chosen for your study, whether that paradigm is interpretivist, critical, positivist, or participative in nature (or a combination of these).
Focus groups:.
In addition to the following resource, see the Oral History page of this guide for helpful resources on Oral History interviewing.
American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman’s Introduction to Field Techniques Interviews gathered for purposes of folklore research are similar to standard social science interviews in some ways, but also have a good deal in common with oral history approaches to interviewing. The focus in a folklore research interview is on documenting and trying to understand the interviewee's way of life relative to a culture or subculture you are studying. This guide includes helpful advice and tips for conducting fieldwork in folklore, such as tips for planning, conducting, recording, and archiving interviews.
An interdisciplinary scientific program within the Institute for Quantitative Social Science which encourages and facilitates research and instruction in the theory and practice of survey research. The primary mission of PSR is to provide survey research resources to enhance the quality of teaching and research at Harvard.
Research ethics .
This resource, sponsored by University of Oregon Libraries, exemplifies the use of interviewing methodologies in research that foregrounds traditional knowledge. The methodology page summarizes the approach.
The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Ethics by Ron Iphofen (Editor); Martin Tolich (Editor) This handbook is a much-needed and in-depth review of the distinctive set of ethical considerations which accompanies qualitative research. This is particularly crucial given the emergent, dynamic and interactional nature of most qualitative research, which too often allows little time for reflection on the important ethical responsibilities and obligations. Contributions from leading international researchers have been carefully organized into six key thematic sections: Part One: Thick Descriptions Of Qualitative Research Ethics; Part Two: Qualitative Research Ethics By Technique; Part Three: Ethics As Politics; Part Four: Qualitative Research Ethics With Vulnerable Groups; Part Five: Relational Research Ethics; Part Six: Researching Digitally. This Handbook is a one-stop resource on qualitative research ethics across the social sciences that draws on the lessons learned and the successful methods for surmounting problems - the tried and true, and the new.
Research Compliance Program for FAS/SEAS at Harvard : The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), including the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) have established a shared Research Compliance Program (RCP). An area of common concern for interview studies is international projects and collaboration . RCP is a resource to provide guidance on which international activities may be impacted by US sanctions on countries, individuals, or entities and whether licenses or other disclosure are required to ship or otherwise share items, technology, or data with foreign collaborators.
Generative AI: Harvard-affiliated researchers should not enter data classified as confidential ( Level 2 and above ), including non-public research data, into publicly-available generative AI tools, in accordance with the University’s Information Security Policy. Information shared with generative AI tools using default settings is not private and could expose proprietary or sensitive information to unauthorized parties.
Privacy Laws: Be mindful of any potential privacy laws that may apply wherever you conduct your interviews. The General Data Protection Regulation is a high-profile example (see below):
If you would like to see examples of consent forms, ask your local IRB, or take a look at these resources:
If you wish to assemble resources to aid in sampling, such as the USPS Delivery Sequence File, telephone books, or directories of organizations and listservs, please contact our data librarian or write to [email protected] .
The way a qualitative researcher constructs and approaches interview questions should flow from, or align with, the methodological paradigm chosen for the study, whether that paradigm is interpretivist, critical, positivist, or participative in nature (or a combination of these).
Helpful texts:.
The quality of your questions depends on how you situate them within a wider body of knowledge. Consider the following advice:
A good literature review has many obvious virtues. It enables the investigator to define problems and assess data. It provides the concepts on which percepts depend. But the literature review has a special importance for the qualitative researcher. This consists of its ability to sharpen his or her capacity for surprise (Lazarsfeld, 1972b). The investigator who is well versed in the literature now has a set of expectations the data can defy. Counterexpectational data are conspicuous, readable, and highly provocative data. They signal the existence of unfulfilled theoretical assumptions, and these are, as Kuhn (1962) has noted, the very origins of intellectual innovation. A thorough review of the literature is, to this extent, a way to manufacture distance. It is a way to let the data of one's research project take issue with the theory of one's field.
McCracken, G. (1988), The Long Interview, Sage: Newbury Park, CA, p. 31
When drafting your interview questions, remember that everything follows from your central research question. Also, on the way to writing your "operationalized" interview questions, it's helpful to draft broader, intermediate questions, couched in theory. Nota bene: While it is important to know the literature well before conducting your interview(s), be careful not to present yourself to your research participant(s) as "the expert," which would be presumptuous and could be intimidating. Rather, the purpose of your knowledge is to make you a better, keener listener.
If you'd like to supplement what you learned about relevant theories through your coursework and literature review, try these sources:
Equipment and software: .
If you prefer to use your own device, you may purchase a small handheld audio recorder, or use your cell phone.
Quick handout: .
Books and articles: .
The way a qualitative researcher transcribes interviews should flow from, or align with, the methodological paradigm chosen for the study, whether that paradigm is interpretivist, critical, positivist, or participative in nature (or a combination of these).
Before embarking on a transcription project, it's worthwhile to invest in the time and effort necessary to capture good audio, which will make the transcription process much easier. If you haven't already done so, check out the audio capture guidelines from Harvard Library's Virtual Media Lab , or contact a media staff member for customized recommendations. First and foremost, be mindful of common pitfalls by watching this short video that identifies the most common errors to avoid!
Software .
Data analysis methods should flow from, or align with, the methodological paradigm chosen for your study, whether that paradigm is interpretivist, critical, positivist, or participative in nature (or a combination of these). Some established methods include Content Analysis, Critical Analysis, Discourse Analysis, Gestalt Analysis, Grounded Theory Analysis, Interpretive Analysis, Narrative Analysis, Normative Analysis, Phenomenological Analysis, Rhetorical Analysis, and Semiotic Analysis, among others. The following resources should help you navigate your methodological options and put into practice methods for coding, themeing, interpreting, and presenting your data.
The quality of your data analysis depends on how you situate what you learn within a wider body of knowledge. Consider the following advice:
Once you have coalesced around a theory, realize that a theory should reveal rather than color your discoveries. Allow your data to guide you to what's most suitable. Grounded theory researchers may develop their own theory where current theories fail to provide insight. This guide on Theoretical Models from Alfaisal University Library provides a helpful overview on using theory.
Managing your elicited interview data, general guidance: .
Finding journalistic interviews: .
In addition to the databases and search strategies mentioned under the "Finding Oral History and Social Research Interviews" category above, you may search for interviews and oral histories (whether in textual or audiovisual formats) held in archival collections at Harvard Library.
Ux at harvard library .
NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy (DMSP) This policy, effective January 25, 2023, applies to all research, funded or conducted in whole or in part by NIH, that results in the generation of scientific data , including NIH-funded qualitative research. Click here to see some examples of how the DMSP policy has been applied in qualitative research studies featured in the 2021 Qualitative Data Management Plan (DMP) Competition . As a resource for the community, NIH has developed a resource for developing informed consent language in research studies where data and/or biospecimens will be stored and shared for future use. It is important to note that the DMS Policy does NOT require that informed consent obtained from research participants must allow for broad sharing and the future use of data (either with or without identifiable private information). See the FAQ for more information.
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Methods of data collection in qualitative research: interviews and focus groups
British Dental Journal volume 204 , pages 291–295 ( 2008 ) Cite this article
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Interviews and focus groups are the most common methods of data collection used in qualitative healthcare research
Interviews can be used to explore the views, experiences, beliefs and motivations of individual participants
Focus group use group dynamics to generate qualitative data
Qualitative research in dentistry
Conducting qualitative interviews with school children in dental research
Analysing and presenting qualitative data
This paper explores the most common methods of data collection used in qualitative research: interviews and focus groups. The paper examines each method in detail, focusing on how they work in practice, when their use is appropriate and what they can offer dentistry. Examples of empirical studies that have used interviews or focus groups are also provided.
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Professionalism in dentistry: deconstructing common terminology, introduction.
Having explored the nature and purpose of qualitative research in the previous paper, this paper explores methods of data collection used in qualitative research. There are a variety of methods of data collection in qualitative research, including observations, textual or visual analysis (eg from books or videos) and interviews (individual or group). 1 However, the most common methods used, particularly in healthcare research, are interviews and focus groups. 2 , 3
The purpose of this paper is to explore these two methods in more detail, in particular how they work in practice, the purpose of each, when their use is appropriate and what they can offer dental research.
There are three fundamental types of research interviews: structured, semi-structured and unstructured. Structured interviews are, essentially, verbally administered questionnaires, in which a list of predetermined questions are asked, with little or no variation and with no scope for follow-up questions to responses that warrant further elaboration. Consequently, they are relatively quick and easy to administer and may be of particular use if clarification of certain questions are required or if there are likely to be literacy or numeracy problems with the respondents. However, by their very nature, they only allow for limited participant responses and are, therefore, of little use if 'depth' is required.
Conversely, unstructured interviews do not reflect any preconceived theories or ideas and are performed with little or no organisation. 4 Such an interview may simply start with an opening question such as 'Can you tell me about your experience of visiting the dentist?' and will then progress based, primarily, upon the initial response. Unstructured interviews are usually very time-consuming (often lasting several hours) and can be difficult to manage, and to participate in, as the lack of predetermined interview questions provides little guidance on what to talk about (which many participants find confusing and unhelpful). Their use is, therefore, generally only considered where significant 'depth' is required, or where virtually nothing is known about the subject area (or a different perspective of a known subject area is required).
Semi-structured interviews consist of several key questions that help to define the areas to be explored, but also allows the interviewer or interviewee to diverge in order to pursue an idea or response in more detail. 2 This interview format is used most frequently in healthcare, as it provides participants with some guidance on what to talk about, which many find helpful. The flexibility of this approach, particularly compared to structured interviews, also allows for the discovery or elaboration of information that is important to participants but may not have previously been thought of as pertinent by the research team.
For example, in a recent dental public heath study, 5 school children in Cardiff, UK were interviewed about their food choices and preferences. A key finding that emerged from semi-structured interviews, which was not previously thought to be as highly influential as the data subsequently confirmed, was the significance of peer-pressure in influencing children's food choices and preferences. This finding was also established primarily through follow-up questioning (eg probing interesting responses with follow-up questions, such as 'Can you tell me a bit more about that?') and, therefore, may not have emerged in the same way, if at all, if asked as a predetermined question.
The purpose of the research interview is to explore the views, experiences, beliefs and/or motivations of individuals on specific matters (eg factors that influence their attendance at the dentist). Qualitative methods, such as interviews, are believed to provide a 'deeper' understanding of social phenomena than would be obtained from purely quantitative methods, such as questionnaires. 1 Interviews are, therefore, most appropriate where little is already known about the study phenomenon or where detailed insights are required from individual participants. They are also particularly appropriate for exploring sensitive topics, where participants may not want to talk about such issues in a group environment.
Examples of dental studies that have collected data using interviews are 'Examining the psychosocial process involved in regular dental attendance' 6 and 'Exploring factors governing dentists' treatment philosophies'. 7 Gibson et al . 6 provided an improved understanding of factors that influenced people's regular attendance with their dentist. The study by Kay and Blinkhorn 7 provided a detailed insight into factors that influenced GDPs' decision making in relation to treatment choices. The study found that dentists' clinical decisions about treatments were not necessarily related to pathology or treatment options, as was perhaps initially thought, but also involved discussions with patients, patients' values and dentists' feelings of self esteem and conscience.
There are many similarities between clinical encounters and research interviews, in that both employ similar interpersonal skills, such as questioning, conversing and listening. However, there are also some fundamental differences between the two, such as the purpose of the encounter, reasons for participating, roles of the people involved and how the interview is conducted and recorded. 8
The primary purpose of clinical encounters is for the dentist to ask the patient questions in order to acquire sufficient information to inform decision making and treatment options. However, the constraints of most consultations are such that any open-ended questioning needs to be brought to a conclusion within a fairly short time. 2 In contrast, the fundamental purpose of the research interview is to listen attentively to what respondents have to say, in order to acquire more knowledge about the study topic. 9 Unlike the clinical encounter, it is not to intentionally offer any form of help or advice, which many researchers have neither the training nor the time for. Research interviewing therefore requires a different approach and a different range of skills.
When designing an interview schedule it is imperative to ask questions that are likely to yield as much information about the study phenomenon as possible and also be able to address the aims and objectives of the research. In a qualitative interview, good questions should be open-ended (ie, require more than a yes/no answer), neutral, sensitive and understandable. 2 It is usually best to start with questions that participants can answer easily and then proceed to more difficult or sensitive topics. 2 This can help put respondents at ease, build up confidence and rapport and often generates rich data that subsequently develops the interview further.
As in any research, it is often wise to first pilot the interview schedule on several respondents prior to data collection proper. 8 This allows the research team to establish if the schedule is clear, understandable and capable of answering the research questions, and if, therefore, any changes to the interview schedule are required.
The length of interviews varies depending on the topic, researcher and participant. However, on average, healthcare interviews last 20-60 minutes. Interviews can be performed on a one-off or, if change over time is of interest, repeated basis, 4 for example exploring the psychosocial impact of oral trauma on participants and their subsequent experiences of cosmetic dental surgery.
Before an interview takes place, respondents should be informed about the study details and given assurance about ethical principles, such as anonymity and confidentiality. 2 This gives respondents some idea of what to expect from the interview, increases the likelihood of honesty and is also a fundamental aspect of the informed consent process.
Wherever possible, interviews should be conducted in areas free from distractions and at times and locations that are most suitable for participants. For many this may be at their own home in the evenings. Whilst researchers may have less control over the home environment, familiarity may help the respondent to relax and result in a more productive interview. 9 Establishing rapport with participants prior to the interview is also important as this can also have a positive effect on the subsequent development of the interview.
When conducting the actual interview it is prudent for the interviewer to familiarise themselves with the interview schedule, so that the process appears more natural and less rehearsed. However, to ensure that the interview is as productive as possible, researchers must possess a repertoire of skills and techniques to ensure that comprehensive and representative data are collected during the interview. 10 One of the most important skills is the ability to listen attentively to what is being said, so that participants are able to recount their experiences as fully as possible, without unnecessary interruptions.
Other important skills include adopting open and emotionally neutral body language, nodding, smiling, looking interested and making encouraging noises (eg, 'Mmmm') during the interview. 2 The strategic use of silence, if used appropriately, can also be highly effective at getting respondents to contemplate their responses, talk more, elaborate or clarify particular issues. Other techniques that can be used to develop the interview further include reflecting on remarks made by participants (eg, 'Pain?') and probing remarks ('When you said you were afraid of going to the dentist what did you mean?'). 9 Where appropriate, it is also wise to seek clarification from respondents if it is unclear what they mean. The use of 'leading' or 'loaded' questions that may unduly influence responses should always be avoided (eg, 'So you think dental surgery waiting rooms are frightening?' rather than 'How do you find the waiting room at the dentists?').
At the end of the interview it is important to thank participants for their time and ask them if there is anything they would like to add. This gives respondents an opportunity to deal with issues that they have thought about, or think are important but have not been dealt with by the interviewer. 9 This can often lead to the discovery of new, unanticipated information. Respondents should also be debriefed about the study after the interview has finished.
All interviews should be tape recorded and transcribed verbatim afterwards, as this protects against bias and provides a permanent record of what was and was not said. 8 It is often also helpful to make 'field notes' during and immediately after each interview about observations, thoughts and ideas about the interview, as this can help in data analysis process. 4 , 8
Focus groups share many common features with less structured interviews, but there is more to them than merely collecting similar data from many participants at once. A focus group is a group discussion on a particular topic organised for research purposes. This discussion is guided, monitored and recorded by a researcher (sometimes called a moderator or facilitator). 11 , 12
Focus groups were first used as a research method in market research, originating in the 1940s in the work of the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University. Eventually the success of focus groups as a marketing tool in the private sector resulted in its use in public sector marketing, such as the assessment of the impact of health education campaigns. 13 However, focus group techniques, as used in public and private sectors, have diverged over time. Therefore, in this paper, we seek to describe focus groups as they are used in academic research.
Focus groups are used for generating information on collective views, and the meanings that lie behind those views. They are also useful in generating a rich understanding of participants' experiences and beliefs. 12 Suggested criteria for using focus groups include: 13
As a standalone method, for research relating to group norms, meanings and processes
In a multi-method design, to explore a topic or collect group language or narratives to be used in later stages
To clarify, extend, qualify or challenge data collected through other methods
To feedback results to research participants.
Morgan 12 suggests that focus groups should be avoided according to the following criteria:
If listening to participants' views generates expectations for the outcome of the research that can not be fulfilled
If participants are uneasy with each other, and will therefore not discuss their feelings and opinions openly
If the topic of interest to the researcher is not a topic the participants can or wish to discuss
If statistical data is required. Focus groups give depth and insight, but cannot produce useful numerical results.
The composition of a focus group needs great care to get the best quality of discussion. There is no 'best' solution to group composition, and group mix will always impact on the data, according to things such as the mix of ages, sexes and social professional statuses of the participants. What is important is that the researcher gives due consideration to the impact of group mix (eg, how the group may interact with each other) before the focus group proceeds. 14
Interaction is key to a successful focus group. Sometimes this means a pre-existing group interacts best for research purposes, and sometimes stranger groups. Pre-existing groups may be easier to recruit, have shared experiences and enjoy a comfort and familiarity which facilitates discussion or the ability to challenge each other comfortably. In health settings, pre-existing groups can overcome issues relating to disclosure of potentially stigmatising status which people may find uncomfortable in stranger groups (conversely there may be situations where disclosure is more comfortable in stranger groups). In other research projects it may be decided that stranger groups will be able to speak more freely without fear of repercussion, and challenges to other participants may be more challenging and probing, leading to richer data. 13
Group size is an important consideration in focus group research. Stewart and Shamdasani 14 suggest that it is better to slightly over-recruit for a focus group and potentially manage a slightly larger group, than under-recruit and risk having to cancel the session or having an unsatisfactory discussion. They advise that each group will probably have two non-attenders. The optimum size for a focus group is six to eight participants (excluding researchers), but focus groups can work successfully with as few as three and as many as 14 participants. Small groups risk limited discussion occurring, while large groups can be chaotic, hard to manage for the moderator and frustrating for participants who feel they get insufficient opportunities to speak. 13
Like research interviews, the interview schedule for focus groups is often no more structured than a loose schedule of topics to be discussed. However, in preparing an interview schedule for focus groups, Stewart and Shamdasani 14 suggest two general principles:
Questions should move from general to more specific questions
Question order should be relative to importance of issues in the research agenda.
There can, however, be some conflict between these two principles, and trade offs are often needed, although often discussions will take on a life of their own, which will influence or determine the order in which issues are covered. Usually, less than a dozen predetermined questions are needed and, as with research interviews, the researcher will also probe and expand on issues according to the discussion.
Moderating a focus group looks easy when done well, but requires a complex set of skills, which are related to the following principles: 15
Participants have valuable views and the ability to respond actively, positively and respectfully. Such an approach is not simply a courtesy, but will encourage fruitful discussions
Moderating without participating: a moderator must guide a discussion rather than join in with it. Expressing one's own views tends to give participants cues as to what to say (introducing bias), rather than the confidence to be open and honest about their own views
Be prepared for views that may be unpalatably critical of a topic which may be important to you
It is important to recognise that researchers' individual characteristics mean that no one person will always be suitable to moderate any kind of group. Sometimes the characteristics that suit a moderator for one group will inhibit discussion in another
Be yourself. If the moderator is comfortable and natural, participants will feel relaxed.
The moderator should facilitate group discussion, keeping it focussed without leading it. They should also be able to prevent the discussion being dominated by one member (for example, by emphasising at the outset the importance of hearing a range of views), ensure that all participants have ample opportunity to contribute, allow differences of opinions to be discussed fairly and, if required, encourage reticent participants. 13
The venue for a focus group is important and should, ideally, be accessible, comfortable, private, quiet and free from distractions. 13 However, while a central location, such as the participants' workplace or school, may encourage attendance, the venue may affect participants' behaviour. For example, in a school setting, pupils may behave like pupils, and in clinical settings, participants may be affected by any anxieties that affect them when they attend in a patient role.
Focus groups are usually recorded, often observed (by a researcher other than the moderator, whose role is to observe the interaction of the group to enhance analysis) and sometimes videotaped. At the start of a focus group, a moderator should acknowledge the presence of the audio recording equipment, assure participants of confidentiality and give people the opportunity to withdraw if they are uncomfortable with being taped. 14
A good quality multi-directional external microphone is recommended for the recording of focus groups, as internal microphones are rarely good enough to cope with the variation in volume of different speakers. 13 If observers are present, they should be introduced to participants as someone who is just there to observe, and sit away from the discussion. 14 Videotaping will require more than one camera to capture the whole group, as well as additional operational personnel in the room. This is, therefore, very obtrusive, which can affect the spontaneity of the group and in a focus group does not usually yield enough additional information that could not be captured by an observer to make videotaping worthwhile. 15
The systematic analysis of focus group transcripts is crucial. However, the transcription of focus groups is more complex and time consuming than in one-to-one interviews, and each hour of audio can take up to eight hours to transcribe and generate approximately 100 pages of text. Recordings should be transcribed verbatim and also speakers should be identified in a way that makes it possible to follow the contributions of each individual. Sometimes observational notes also need to be described in the transcripts in order for them to make sense.
The analysis of qualitative data is explored in the final paper of this series. However, it is important to note that the analysis of focus group data is different from other qualitative data because of their interactive nature, and this needs to be taken into consideration during analysis. The importance of the context of other speakers is essential to the understanding of individual contributions. 13 For example, in a group situation, participants will often challenge each other and justify their remarks because of the group setting, in a way that perhaps they would not in a one-to-one interview. The analysis of focus group data must therefore take account of the group dynamics that have generated remarks.
Focus groups are used increasingly in dental research, on a diverse range of topics, 16 illuminating a number of areas relating to patients, dental services and the dental profession. Addressing a special needs population difficult to access and sample through quantitative measures, Robinson et al . 17 used focus groups to investigate the oral health-related attitudes of drug users, exploring the priorities, understandings and barriers to care they encounter. Newton et al . 18 used focus groups to explore barriers to services among minority ethnic groups, highlighting for the first time differences between minority ethnic groups. Demonstrating the use of the method with professional groups as subjects in dental research, Gussy et al . 19 explored the barriers to and possible strategies for developing a shared approach in prevention of caries among pre-schoolers. This mixed method study was very important as the qualitative element was able to explain why the clinical trial failed, and this understanding may help researchers improve on the quantitative aspect of future studies, as well as making a valuable academic contribution in its own right.
Interviews and focus groups remain the most common methods of data collection in qualitative research, and are now being used with increasing frequency in dental research, particularly to access areas not amendable to quantitative methods and/or where depth, insight and understanding of particular phenomena are required. The examples of dental studies that have employed these methods also help to demonstrate the range of research contexts to which interview and focus group research can make a useful contribution. The continued employment of these methods can further strengthen many areas of dentally related work.
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Gill, P., Stewart, K., Treasure, E. et al. Methods of data collection in qualitative research: interviews and focus groups. Br Dent J 204 , 291–295 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/bdj.2008.192
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Ilana bergelson.
Department of Urology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Purpose of review.
Objective measures of residency applicants do not correlate to success within residency. While industry and business utilize standardized interviews with blinding and structured questions, residency programs have yet to uniformly incorporate these techniques. This review focuses on an in-depth evaluation of these practices and how they impact interview formatting and resident selection.
Structured interviews use standardized questions that are behaviorally or situationally anchored. This requires careful creation of a scoring rubric and interviewer training, ultimately leading to improved interrater agreements and biases as compared to traditional interviews. Blinded interviews eliminate even further biases, such as halo, horn, and affinity bias. This has also been seen in using multiple interviewers, such as in the multiple mini-interview format, which also contributes to increased diversity in programs. These structured formats can be adopted to the virtual interviews as well.
There is growing literature that using structured interviews reduces bias, increases diversity, and recruits successful residents. Further research to measure the extent of incorporating this method into residency interviews will be needed in the future.
Optimizing the criteria to rank residency applicants is a difficult task. The National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) is designed to be applicant-centric, with the overarching goal to provide favorable outcomes to the applicant while providing opportunity for programs to match high-quality candidates. From a program’s perspective, the NRMP is composed of three phases: the screening of applicants, the interview, and the creation of the rank list. While it is easy to compare candidates based on objective measures, these do not always reflect qualities required to be a successful resident or physician. Prior studies have demonstrated that objective measures such as Alpha Omega Alpha status, United States Medical Licensing Exams (USMLE), and class rank do not correlate with residency performance measures [ 1 ]. Due to the variability of these factors to predict success and recognition of the importance of the non-cognitive traits, most programs place increased emphasis on candidate interviews to assess fit [ 2 ].
Unfortunately, the interview process lacks standardization across residency programs. Industry and business have more standardized interviews and utilize best practices that include blinded interviewers, use of structured questions (situational and/or behavioral anchored questions), and skills testing. Due to residency interview heterogeneity, studies evaluating the interview as a predictor of success have failed to reliably predict who will perform well during residency. Additionally, resident success has many components, such that isolating any one factor, such as the interview, may be problematic and argues for a more holistic approach to resident selection [ 3 ]. Nevertheless, there are multiple ways the application review and interview can be standardized to promote transparency and improve resident selection.
Residency programs have begun adopting best practices from business models for interviewing, which include standardized questions, situational and/or behavioral anchored questions, blinded interviewers, and use of the multiple mini-interview (MMI) model. The focus of this review is to take a more in-depth look at practices that have become standard in business and to review the available data on the impact of these practices in resident selection.
Unstructured interviews are those in which questions are not set in advance and represent a free-flowing discussion that is conversational in nature. The course of an unstructured interview often depends on the candidate’s replies and may offer opportunities to divert away from topics that are important to applicant selection. While unstructured interviews may involve specific questions such as “tell me about a recent book you read” or “tell me about your research,” the questions do not seek to determine specific applicant attributes and may vary significantly between applicants. Due to their free-form nature, unstructured interviews may be prone to biased or illegal questions. Additionally, due to a lack of a specific scoring rubric, unstructured interviews are open to multiple biases in answer interpretation and as such generally show limited validity [ 4 ]. For the applicant, unstructured interviews allow more freedom to choose a response, with some studies reporting higher interviewee satisfaction with these questions [ 5 ].
In contrast to the unstructured interview, structured interviews use standardized questions that are written prior to an interview, are asked of every candidate, and are scored using an established rubric. Standardized questions may be behaviorally or situationally anchored [ 5 ]. Due to their uniformity, standardized interviews have higher interrater reliability and are less prone to biased or illegal questions.
Behavioral questions ask the candidate to discuss a specific response to a prior experience, which can provide insight into how an applicant may behave in the future [ 5 ]. Not only does the candidate’s response reflect a possible prediction of future behavior, it can also demonstrate the knowledge, priorities, and values of the candidate [ 5 ]. Questions are specifically targeted to reflect qualities the program is searching for (Table (Table1) 1 ) [ 5 – 7 ].
Behavioral questions and character traits [ 5 – 7 ]
Behavioral question example | Trait evaluated |
---|---|
Tell me about a time in which you had to use your spoken communication skills to get a point across that was important to you. | Communication, patience |
Can you tell me a time during one of your rotations where you needed to take a leadership role in the case workup or care of the patient? How did this occur and what was the outcome? | Drive, determination |
Tell us about a time when you made a major mistake. How did you handle it? | Integrity |
What is the most difficult experience you have had in medical school? | Recognition of own limitations |
Situational questions require an applicant to predict how they would act in a hypothetical situation and are intended to reflect a realistic scenario the applicant may encounter during residency; this can provide insight into priorities and values [ 5 ]. For example, asking what an applicant would do when receiving sole credit for something they worked on with a colleague can provide insight into the integrity of a candidate [ 4 ]. These types of questions can be especially helpful for fellowships, as applicants would already have the clinical experience of residency to draw from [ 5 ].
Using standardized questions provides a method to recruit candidates with characteristics that ultimately correlate to resident success and good performance. Indeed, structured interview scores have demonstrated an ability to predict which students perform better with regard to communication skills, patient care, and professionalism in surgical and non-surgical specialties [ 8 •]. In fields such as radiology, non-cognitive abilities that can be evaluated in behavioral questions, such as conscientiousness or confidence, are thought to critically influence success in residency and even influence cognitive performance [ 1 ]. This has also been demonstrated in obstetrics and gynecology, where studies have shown that resident clinical performance after 1 year had a positive correlation with the rank list percentile that was generated using a structured interview process [ 9 ].
To be effective, standardized interview questions should be designed in a methodical manner. The first step in standardizing the interview process is determining which core values predict resident success in a particular program. To that end, educational leaders and faculty within the department should come to a consensus on the main qualities they seek in a resident. From there, questions can be formatted to elicit those traits during the interview process. Some programs have used personality assessment inventories to establish these qualities. Examples include openness to experience, humility, conscientiousness, and honesty. Further program-specific additions can be included, such as potential for success in an urban versus rural environment [ 10 ].
Once key attributes have been chosen and questions have been selected, a scoring rubric can be created. The scoring of each question is important as it helps define what makes a high-performing versus low-performing answer. Once a scoring system is determined, interviewers can be trained to review the questions, score applicant responses, and ensure they do not revise the questions during the interview [ 11 ]. Questions and the grading rubric should be further scrutinized through mock interviews with current residents, including discussing responses of the mock interviewee and modifying the questions and rubric prior to formal implementation [ 12 ]. Interviewer training itself is critical, as adequate training leads to improved interrater agreements [ 13 ]. Figure 1 demonstrates the steps to develop a behavioral interview question.
Example of standardized question to evaluate communication with scoring criteria
Rating the responses of the applicants can come with errors that ultimately reduce validity. For example, central tendency error involves interviewers not rating students at the extremes of a scale but rather placing all applicants in the middle; leniency versus severity refers to interviewers who either give all applicants high marks or give everyone low marks; contrast effects involve comparing one applicant to another rather than solely focusing on the rubric for each interviewee. These rating errors reflect the importance of training and providing feedback to interviewers [ 4 ].
Blinding the interviewers to the application prior to meeting with a candidate is intended to eliminate various biases within the interview process (Table (Table2) 2 ) [ 14 , 15 ]. In addition to grades and test scores, aspects of the application that can either introduce or exacerbate bias include photographs, demographics, letters of recommendation, selection to medical honor societies, and even hobbies. Impressions of candidates can be formed prematurely, with the interview then serving to simply confirm (or contradict) those impressions [ 16 •]. Importantly, application blinding may also decrease implicit bias against applicants who identify as underrepresented in medicine [ 17 ].
Examples of bias [ 14 , 15 ]
Type of bias | Definition |
---|---|
Halo | Taking someone’s positive characteristic and ignoring any other information that may contradict this positive perception |
Horn | Taking someone’s negative characteristic and ignoring any other information that may contradict this negative perception |
Affinity | Increased affinity with those who have shared experiences, such as hometown or education |
Conformity | When the view of the majority can push one individual to also feel similarly about a candidate, regardless of whether this reflects their true feelings; can occur when there are multiple interviewers on one panel |
Confirmation | Making an initial opinion and then looking for specific information to support that opinion |
Despite the proven success of these various interview tactics, their use in resident selection remains limited, with only 5% of general surgery programs using standardized interview questions and less than 20% using even a limited amount of blinding (e.g., blinding of photograph) [ 2 ]. Some programs have continued to rely on unblinded interviews and prioritize USMLE scores and course grades in ranking [ 18 ]. Due to their potential benefits and ability to standardize the interview process, it is critical that programs become familiar with the various interview practices so that they can select the best applicants while minimizing the significant bias in traditional interview formats.
The use of multiple interviews by multiple interviewers provides an opportunity to ask the applicant more varied questions and also allows for the averaging out of potential interviewer bias leading to more consistent applicant scoring and ability to predict applicant success [ 7 ]. Training of the interviewers in interviewing techniques, scoring, and avoiding bias is also likely to decrease scoring variability. Similarly, the use of the same group of interviewers for all candidates should be encouraged in order to limit variance in scoring amongst certain faculty [ 19 ].
One interview method that incorporates multiple interviewers and has had growing frequency in medical school interviews as well as residency interviews is the MMI model. This system provides multiple interviews in the form of 6–12 stations, each of which evaluates a non-medical question designed to assess specific non-academic applicant qualities [ 20 ]. While the MMI format can intimidate some candidates, others find that it provides an opportunity to demonstrate traits that would not be observed in an unstructured interview, such as multitasking, efficiency, flexibility, interpersonal skills, and ethical decision-making [ 21 ]. Furthermore, MMI has been shown to have increased reliability as shown in a study of five California medical schools that showed inter-interviewer consistency was higher for MMIs than traditional interviews which were unstructured and had a 1:1 ratio of interviewer to applicant [ 22 ].
The MMI format is also versatile enough to incorporate technical competencies even through a virtual platform. In general surgery interviews, MMI platforms have been designed to test traits such as communication and empathy but also clinical knowledge and surgical aptitude through anatomy questions and surgical skills (knot tying and suturing). Thus, MMIs are not only versatile, but also have an ability to evaluate cognitive traits and practical skills [ 23 ].
MMI also has the potential to reduce resident attrition. For example, in evaluating students applying to midwifery programs in Australia, attrition rates and grades were compared for admitted students using academic rank and MMI scores obtained before and after the incorporation of MMIs into their selection program. The authors found that when using MMIs, enrolled students had not only higher grades but significantly lower attrition rates. MMI was better suited to show applicants’ passion and commitment, which then led to similar mindsets of accepted applicants as well as a support network [ 24 ]. Furthermore, attrition rates have been found to be higher in female residents in general surgery programs [ 25 ]. Perhaps with greater diversity, which is associated with use of standardized interviews, the number of women can increase in surgical specialties and thus reduce attrition rate in this setting as well.
An imperative of all training programs is to produce a cohort of physicians with broad and diverse experiences representative of the patient populations they treat. To better address diversity within surgical residencies, particularly regarding women and those who are underrepresented in medicine, it is important that interviews be designed to minimize bias against any one portion of the applicant pool. Diverse backgrounds and cultures within a program enhance research, innovation, and collaboration as well as benefit patients [ 26 ]. Patients have shown greater satisfaction and reception when they share ethnicity or background with their provider, and underrepresented minorities in medicine often go on to work in underserved communities [ 27 ].
All interviewers undoubtedly have elements of implicit bias; Table Table2 2 describes the common subtypes of implicit bias [ 14 ]. While it is difficult to eliminate bias in the interview process, unstructured or “traditional” interviews are more likely to risk bias toward candidates than structured interviews. Studies have demonstrated that Hispanic and Black applicants receive scores one quarter of a standard deviation lower than Caucasian applicants [ 28 ]. “Like me” bias is just one example of increased subjectivity with unstructured interviews, where interviewers prefer candidates who may look like, speak like, or share personal experiences with the interviewer [ 29 ].
Furthermore, unstructured interviews provide opportunities to ask inappropriate or illegal questions, including those that center on religion, child planning, and sexual orientation [ 30 ]. Inappropriate questions tend to be disproportionately directed toward certain groups, with women more likely to get questions regarding marital status and to be questioned and interrupted than male counterparts [ 28 , 31 ].
Structured interviews, conversely, have been shown to decrease bias in the application process. Faculty trained in behavior-based interviews for fellowship applications demonstrated that there were reduced racial biases in candidate evaluations due to scoring rubrics [ 12 ]. Furthermore, as structured questions are determined prior to the interview and involve training of interviewers, structured interviews are less prone to illegal and inappropriate questions [ 32 ]. Interviewers can ask additional questions such as “could you be more specific?” with the caveat that probing should be minimized and kept consistent between applications. This way the risk of prompting the applicant toward a response is reduced [ 4 ].
An added complexity to creating standardized interviews is incorporating a virtual platform. Even prior to the move toward virtual interviews instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic, studies on virtual interviews showed that they provided several advantages over in-person interviews, including decreased cost, reduction in time away from commitments for applicants and staff, and ability to interview at more programs. A significant limitation, for applicants and for programs, is the inability to interact informally, which allows applicants to evaluate the environment of the hospital and the surrounding community [ 33 •]. Following their abrupt implementation in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual interviews have remained in place and likely will remain in place in some form into the future due to their significant benefits in reducing applicant cost and improving interview efficiency. Although these types of interviews are in their relative infancy in the resident selection process, studies have found that standardized questions and scoring rubrics that have been used in person can still be applied to a virtual interview setting without degrading interview quality [ 34 ].
The virtual format may also allow for further interview innovation in the form of standardized video interviews. For medical student applicants, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has trialed a standardized video interview (SVI) that includes recording of applicant responses, scoring, and subsequent release to the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) application. Though early data in the pilot was promising, the program was not continued after the 2020 cycle due to lack of interest [ 35 ]. There is limited evidence supporting the utility of this type of interview in residency training, and one study found that these interviews did not add significant benefit as the scores did not associate with other candidate attributes such as professionalism [ 32 ]. Similarly, a separate study found no correlation between standardized video interviews and faculty scores on traits such as communication and professionalism. Granted, there was no standardization in what the faculty asked, and they were not blinded to academic performance of the applicants [ 36 ]. While there was an evaluation of six emergency medicine programs that demonstrated a positive linear correlation between the SVI score and the traditional interview score, it was a very low r coefficient; thus the authors concluded that the SVI was not adequate to replace the interview itself [ 37 ].
The shift to structured interviews in urology has been slow. Within the last decade, studies consistent with other specialties demonstrated that urology program directors prioritized USMLE scores, reference letters, and away rotations at the program director’s institution as the key factors in choosing applicants [ 38 ]. More recently, a survey of urology programs found < 10% blinded the recruitment team at the screening step, with < 20% blinding the recruitment team during the interview itself [ 39 ]. In 2020 our program began using structured interview questions and blinded interviewers to all but the personal statement and letters of recommendation. After querying faculty and interviewees, we have found that most interviewers do not miss the additional information, and applicants feel that they are able to have more eye contact with faculty who are not looking down at the application during the interview. Structured behavioral interview questions have allowed us to focus on the key attributes important to our program. With time we hope to see that inclusion of these metrics helps diversify our resident cohort, improve resident satisfaction with the training program, and produce successful future urologists.
Despite the slow transition in urology and other fields, there is a growing body of literature in support of standardized interviews for evaluating key candidate traits that ultimately lead to resident success and reducing bias while increasing diversity. With time, the hope is that programs will continue incorporating these types of interviews in the resident selection process.
The authors have no financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.
This article is part of Topical Collection on Education
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BMC Health Services Research volume 24 , Article number: 772 ( 2024 ) Cite this article
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Alcohol-related mortality and morbidity increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, with people from lower-socioeconomic groups disproportionately affected. The North East and North Cumbria (NENC) region has high levels of deprivation and the highest rates of alcohol-related harm in England. Consequently, there is an urgent need for the implementation of evidence-based preventative approaches such as identifying people at risk of alcohol harm and providing them with appropriate support. Non-alcohol specialist secondary care clinicians could play a key role in delivering these interventions, but current implementation remains limited. In this study we aimed to explore current practices and challenges around identifying, supporting, and signposting patients with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) in secondary care hospitals in the NENC through the accounts of staff in the post COVID-19 context.
Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 non-alcohol specialist staff (10 doctors, 20 nurses) in eight secondary care hospitals across the NENC between June and October 2021. Data were analysed inductively and deductively to identify key codes and themes, with Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) then used to structure the findings.
Findings were grouped using the NPT domains ‘implementation contexts’ and ‘implementation mechanisms’. The following implementation contexts were identified as key factors limiting the implementation of alcohol prevention work: poverty which has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and the prioritisation of acute presentations (negotiating capacity); structural stigma (strategic intentions); and relational stigma (reframing organisational logics). Implementation mechanisms identified as barriers were: workforce knowledge and skills (cognitive participation); the perception that other departments and roles were better placed to deliver this preventative work than their own (collective action); and the perceived futility and negative feedback cycle (reflexive monitoring).
COVID-19, has generated additional challenges to identifying, supporting, and signposting patients with AUD in secondary care hospitals in the NENC. Our interpretation suggests that implementation contexts, in particular structural stigma and growing economic disparity, are the greatest barriers to implementation of evidence-based care in this area. Thus, while some implementation mechanisms can be addressed at a local policy and practice level via improved training and support, system-wide action is needed to enable sustained delivery of preventative alcohol work in these settings.
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Alcohol is now the leading risk factor for ill-health, early mortality, and disability amongst working age adults (aged 15 to 49) in England, and the fifth leading risk factor for ill-health across all age groups [ 1 ]. Evidence also shows significant socioeconomic inequalities in alcohol-related harm [ 2 ]. Over half of the one million hospital admissions relating to alcohol in England each year occur in the lowest three socioeconomic deciles [ 3 ] and rates of alcohol-related deaths increase with decreasing socioeconomic status [ 4 ]. In 2020 people under 75 years living in the most deprived areas in England had a 4.8 times greater likelihood of premature mortality from alcohol-related liver disease than those living in the most affluent areas [ 5 ].
Although globally, there is mixed evidence about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social and economic restrictions on alcohol consumption [ 6 ], some studies suggest that people who were already drinking alcohol heavily increased their intake during this period [ 7 , 8 ]. Latest data for England show that the total number of deaths from conditions that were wholly attributed to alcohol rose by 20% in a single year in 2020, the largest increase on record [ 9 ]. In England, and elsewhere, it has been argued that COVID-19 should be regarded as a syndemic rather than a pandemic, as it has interacted with, and most adversely affected those in the most deprived social groups who were already experiencing the greatest inequalities [ 10 ]. In the case of alcohol use, COVID-19 may have interacted with and exacerbated the social conditions associated with alcohol use such as poverty, and loneliness and isolation [ 11 , 12 ]. Moreover, with evidence that alcohol-related harms will continue to increase, there is concern this will further widen health inequalities for those communities and regions who are likely to be most affected [ 8 , 13 ]. Thus, there is an urgent need for the implementation of evidence-based preventative strategies to reduce alcohol harm and associated inequalities, as part of a wider system level approach that includes primary, secondary and specialist care settings [ 8 ]. From here we use the term Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), to refer to a spectrum of alcohol use from harmful to dependent alcohol use [ 14 ].
In secondary care hospitals, the UK government prioritised the implementation of Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) in England in the National Health Service (NHS) Long Term Plan with the aim of improving care and reducing alcohol-related harms [ 15 ]. ACTs are clinician-led, multidisciplinary teams designed to support provision of integrated alcohol treatment pathways across primary, secondary and community care, and have been shown to reduce alcohol harms through reductions in avoidable bed days; readmissions; Accident and Emergency Department (AED) attendances; and ambulance call outs [ 16 ]. However, the non-specialist secondary care workforce also has an essential role in identifying and managing people at risk, using evidence-based approaches such as screening patients for excessive alcohol use and the provision brief advice [ 17 ]. Given that people may not always present primarily with alcohol-related concerns, routine screening provides an important opportunity to identify people at an earlier stage in their drinking and thereby prevent escalation of alcohol-related problems. Current NHS clinical guidance [ 18 ] requires that non-specialist healthcare staff ‘should be competent to identify harmful drinking (high-risk drinking) and alcohol dependence’ (p46). This includes having the skills to assess the need for an intervention or to provide an appropriate referral.
Despite this guidance however, evidence from prior to the pandemic suggests a range of barriers exist in the delivery and widespread implementation of alcohol prevention work by non-specialist secondary care staff. These include time pressures, limited knowledge and awareness of AUD, and a lack of training, skills, and financial support [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Many studies also highlight that the delivery of preventative support for AUD in secondary care is hampered by wider social cultural challenges such as the stigma of heavy alcohol use and widespread belief that problematic alcohol use is a personal responsibility and represents moral failing, leading to an emphasis on individuals to manage their own care [ 22 ]. Additionally, as AUD frequently co-occurs with other physical and mental health conditions [ 23 ], non-specialist healthcare staff can find themselves ill-equipped to provide the best standard of care for these patients who have multiple and complex needs [ 24 ]. Moreover, in England, as in other health systems, the impact of COVID-19 has created additional pressures and challenges for the whole NHS, including secondary hospitals. There are more people visiting AED than before the pandemic, with longer waiting lists for treatment and fewer hospital beds [ 25 ]. There is also record dissatisfaction amongst the workforce, with more doctors now stating they want to leave the NHS than before the pandemic [ 26 ].
Given the clear need for preventive work to reduce inequalities in alcohol-related harm and the current challenges within secondary care in a post-COVID-19 context, there is value in exploring the views of secondary care staff about supporting patients with AUD since the pandemic. Moreover, the low levels of delivery of preventative support for AUD across different sites suggest there is merit in using implementation science theory [ 27 ] to support improved explanation and understanding of this situation [ 27 , 28 ]. Normalisation Process Theory [ 29 ] has been used extensively in studies conducted in other health settings to understand and evaluate past and future implementation efforts e.g. [ 28 , 30 , 31 , 48 , 33 ], including in relation to alcohol screening and brief intervention in England and Australia [ 30 , 31 ]. NPT is a sociological implementation theory that identifies three domains as shaping the implementation of a new intervention or practice: contexts; mechanisms; and outcomes. Contexts refer to the ‘events in systems unfolding over time within and between settings in which implementation work is done.’ [ 34 ]; mechanisms are factors that ‘motivate and shape the work that people do when they participate in implementation processes’ [ 34 ]; outcomes refer to what changes occur when interventions are implemented. NPT is a conceptual tool and can be used at different stages of the research process [ 29 ]. In this study NPT has been used retrospectively during the analysis stage.
The aim of the present study is to use NPT to elucidate possible explanations for why the preventative practice of identifying, supporting, and referring patients with AUD to appropriate support is not consistently taking place in secondary care in the NENC in the post COVID-19 context. We also aim to make recommendations for areas that should be targeted by policy and practice initiatives.
We conducted a qualitative study with health care professionals working in eight secondary care hospitals in the eight NHS Trusts in the North East and North Cumbria (NENC) region of England. The NENC experiences significant health inequalities [ 35 ], including health inequalities in alcohol-related harm. In 2021, the region had the highest reported alcohol specific and alcohol related mortality and the most alcohol related and alcohol specific admissions in England [ 36 ].
The data collection was carried out between June and October 2021. At this time, most COVID-19 restrictions had just been lifted in the NENC [ 37 ] but the impacts of COVID-19 on patients, staff and health care delivery were still ongoing.
As such, the study was planned to contribute to a baseline understanding of support for AUD in secondary care in the NENC conducted as part of a wider regional alcohol health needs assessment (2022) which would inform and direct strategic action and resource allocation in secondary care to improve alcohol-related outcomes post-COVID-19. The Principal Investigator (PI) for the study was the alcohol lead for the NENC Integrated Care System (SH), and the wider study team included representation from Primary Care, Secondary Care, Public Health, and Academia.
We used the method of qualitative semi-structured interviews to enable us to focus on issues that we wanted to explore, as well as allowing the participants flexibility to discuss the issues that were important to them [ 38 ]. We adopted a critical realist approach to the interpretation of data which purports that data can be taken as evidence for ‘real phenomena and processes’, but also recognises that the knowledge generated through qualitative research is situated and partial [ 39 ].
As part of a wider ambition to build research capacity in the study region, a novel aspect of the study design is that six junior doctors from the Gastroenterology Research and Audit through North Trainees, were trained in qualitative interview skills by a qualitative methodologist from the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria (NENC) and supported by members of the study team to recruit staff and carry out the interviews with secondary care clinicians.
We used a form of stratified purposive sampling [ 40 ] as the recruitment of healthcare professionals was structured to provide insights across all the NHS Trusts in the study region, a range of clinical specialities, and a range of points across the clinical pathway, with both medical and nursing staff. As such, professionals working in AED, Medical specialties, Psychiatric Liaison (PL), Gastroenterology or Surgical specialties were eligible to participate. Junior doctor interviewers or the PI contacted potential participants either by email or face-to-face and explained the purpose of the study. People who expressed an interest were then provided with the study participant information sheet and consent form. The sampling was deemed complete when the quota of participants was met for each trust.
Data collection involved semi-structured interviews based on a topic guide. The topic guide was developed by the study team and was informed by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence – Quality Standard 11 [ 41 ], which contains guidance about identifying and supporting adults and young people who may have an AUD and caring for people with alcohol-related health problems (see Additional file 1 ).
All interviews were conducted via Microsoft Teams, lasted an average of 33 min, were audio recorded and transcribed by professional transcriptionists before being fully anonymised by KJ and IL.
Data analysis involved three stages:
Stage 1: Generating descriptive codes from each area of the data set
In the first stage of analysis, once all transcripts were available, in order to generate insights that could contribute to the baseline understanding of the current situation with regards to support for AUD in secondary care, one researcher (IL) used a method of thematic analysis [ 42 ] and drew on deductive and inductive reasoning to identify descriptive codes against each focus question area of the interview topic guide. This researcher read and re-read the full data set, allowing them to identify descriptive codes across staff accounts.
Stage 2: Generating descriptive and interpretive codes and themes from across the full data set
Following this, to generate insights which went beyond the question areas of the topic guide a second researcher (KJ) familiarised themselves with the data. In contrast to Stage 1, they were less restricted by the original topic guide and through a process of constant comparison began to identify both descriptive and interpretive broad thematic topic areas and codes, across the different areas of the interviews. After the first half of the interview transcripts were coded by the researcher in this way, the broad thematic topic areas were discussed with the wider study team in two meetings. In these meetings the broad topic areas and associated coding framework were refined. This refined framework was applied to future transcripts, with flexibility to add further codes as the analysis progressed. At the end of this process, a decision was made by the team to focus the interpretation for this paper on current practices around identifying, supporting, and signposting patients with AUD in secondary care hospitals because it was felt that this focus could make a meaningful contribution to the existing literature in a post-pandemic context.
Stage 3: Applying Normalisation Process Theory retrospectively to data to generate the final interpretation
To ensure the usefulness of the findings of the current analysis to support the design and delivery of future policy and practice to reduce inequalities in alcohol related harm, academic members of the team suggested using an appropriate implementation theory, namely NPT, to guide our interpretation and understanding of data from this point in the analysis [ 34 ]. NPT had not been used in the study to this point and has been used retrospectively as a sensitising, and partial structuring, device, as seen in previous comparable research e.g. [ 28 , 43 ].
[ 29 , 34 ]. First, when applying NPT, we returned to the codes identified at Stage 2 to identify those that related to the practice of identifying, supporting, and signposting patients with AUD to explore how they may fit alongside the domains of NPT. At this point it was evident that most of the codes related to how implementation contexts and mechanisms were felt to adversely affect provision of support for patients with AUD. In contrast, we found negligible data related to the third NPT domain of outcomes (i.e. what changes occur when interventions are implemented). It was therefore agreed that applying the context and mechanisms domains could be valuable to show how contexts and mechanisms limit the implementation of the phenomena of interest. For transparency however, data not included at this stage is indicated in Additional file 2 .
Next, we separated the codes generated in Stage 2 into overarching thematic areas, these were then labelled as either contexts or mechanisms. For example, poverty and austerity were labelled as contexts, and workforce skills and knowledge were labelled as mechanisms. Details of each stage of the analysis and where the codes generated at Stage 2 of the analysis were mapped, against the NPT context and mechanism domains are shown in Additional file 2 .
Following this we endeavoured to align the thematic topic areas in each NPT domain into its associated constructs. It should be noted that our initial researcher-generated thematic areas aligned easily with three of the four NPT mechanism constructs. Conversely, as the NPT context constructs are a new addition to NPT theory, there were few practical examples of how these should be operationalised meaning it took more interpretive work to understand how our data mapped to these constructs. Through reflective discussions as a team, however, we identified that the researcher-generated themes aligned with three of the four context constructs. Table 1 below summarises the implementation context and mechanism constructs and identifies where our data do and do not map to these constructs. COVID-19 provides an overarching context to the study however as the timing of the interviews meant it penetrated almost all the data.
In keeping with the critical realist approach which recognises the situatedness of knowledge, we see researcher positionality as important to consider in the interpretation of qualitative data. Research can never be value free but, it is necessary to be explicit about where positionality might have affected the interactions [ 45 ]. The junior doctor interviewers and the PI who collected the data had experience of clinical work on the topic of the research. Indeed, the transcripts indicated that there were times when the interviewers aligned themselves or discussed their own experiences in the interviews. Some of the junior doctor interviewers recorded reflexive notes about the interviews, these were used during Stages 1 and 2 of the analysis to support interpretation, but have not been used as data. The researcher who conducted Stage 1 of the analysis has a professional background in healthcare but no direct experience of the topic area. The researcher who led the rest of the analysis has experience of carrying out research about AUD, but no clinical experience of working with people experiencing AUD. Other members of the project team have direct experience of working in hospital settings with patients experiencing AUD. Agreement amongst this heterogeneous research team about the final interpretation gives us confidence that it is grounded in the data. Moreover, this agreement amongst the research team about the final interpretation, and the congruence of findings with the existing literature on the topic of the research prior to COVID-19, gives us confidence that the insider researchers did not compromise the quality of the original empirical data.
In total, 30 staff in the study region were interviewed across the eight NHS Trusts, including 20 nurses and 10 doctors (see Table 2 ) based in five departments: AED; PL; Medical; Surgical; and Gastroenterology ( n = 6 each). Information related to participant gender and ethnicity are not available and we have not analysed the data with these as a focus. The absence of this data also helps to preserve the anonymity of participants because the geographical region of the study is named.
Overall, participants’ accounts suggested that they were not consistently trying to identify AUD or assessing the need for intervention in the patients they worked with. Where any identification of AUD did take place, this appeared to often be through informal questioning rather than utilising formal, validated screening questionnaires. The following response was typical:
We’ll just ask about units a week. I know that there is a screening tool, there is a chart of some sort and it’s a physical thing that I think the alcohol and drugs nurses use on medications. So we don’t use that on a regular basis. As of now, there’s still a paper–based documenting system, but we don’t use that necessarily. (Participant 14 – Doctor, Trust 4, AED)
Conversely, some staff working in PL teams suggested they more commonly tried to identify AUD. Although again, validated screening questionnaires appeared to be used inconsistently:
Substance misuse is always an integral part of the assessment that we do. . We do have specific packs that we are trained to carry out our assessments to. I think in practice, we often don’t follow those verbatim and we will just do a free form assessment and substances are always part of that… .: “Do you consider that’s an issue for you, is it something that you want help with?” We’re always having those conversations. (Participant 8 – Nurse, Trust 2, PL)
Many staff’s accounts suggested they did not consistently signpost patients with identified AUD to a service that could provide an assessment of need or provide further care. Using NPT to frame our interpretation, in the next section we aim to highlight current practice around these phenomena and identify areas that appeared to be key barriers to implementation.
The successful implementation of interventions requires supportive implementation environments both within and outside the settings in which they are delivered. Our data highlighted several key aspects of the implementation context/s that are barriers to the widespread implementation of asking about, supporting, and signposting patients with AUD in secondary care in the study region. As the data collection was conducted very soon after COVID-19 restrictions ended, COVID-19 was an overarching context of the staffs’ accounts.
Negotiating capacity refers to how contexts shape the extent to which interventions can fit into existing ways of working [ 34 ]. Through the participants’ accounts we identified two aspects of context which appear to limit negotiating capacity: widespread poverty and austerity within the study region; and the focus of secondary care hospitals on the acute and presenting health needs of patients.
Most staff accounts suggested they perceived AUD to be common in the communities their hospitals covered and the patients they saw. Many staff linked the prevalence of AUD in the region to the high rates of poverty. To illustrate, Participant 23 commented that the basic provision for patients with AUD in the hospital, was in stark contrast to the apparent need in the community:
The demographic for around here, people are poor, they do drink, people do smoke,. . people take drugs a lot around here and the help, there isn’t [anything for them] it’s absolutely crazy. (Participant 23 - Nurse, Trust 6, Surgical)
While the need to support patients with AUD was perceived to have been high prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many staff noted that they had seen a rise in patients presenting with or showing signs of AUD following the pandemic, with some suggesting that they felt that the presentations of alcohol-related morbidity and mortality were likely to increase in the future:
Our numbers [of patients with AUD] have gone up by 100% in five years. . So it’s not going anywhere, and I predict that at the beginning of next year we’re going to see huge influence on alcoholic dependence. Because we’ve already seen people who are having fits, first fits, people who were drinking prior to COVID or probably drinking too much, at high risk, not necessarily dependent and then, furloughed, have begun to drink every day and developed alcohol dependence. (Participant 25 - Nurse, Trust 7, Gastroenterology)
A small number of participants mentioned that because of the observed high levels of AUD in the study region it was harder to decide how to prioritise who to ask about alcohol. They indicated that they were unlikely to ask patients about alcohol if they were drinking at what they saw as lower levels, as they perceived most people were drinking a lot. For example, Participant 7 said:
If they were a binge drinker or they drank more than was recommended, it’s kind of like, where do you take that? How do I talk to my patients about that? Thinking about where we live, our demographic of the type of patients that we see, it’s very common that patients would drink more alcohol than the recommended. So, I guess that is the challenge of how you would approach that to the patient, without coming across like you were being judgmental or self-righteous when you’re trying to give them this advice. And actually asking them; ‘do you even see it as a problem?’ A lot of patients that you would speak to you wouldn’t even say that that is a problem. (Participant 7 - Nurse, Trust 2, Surgical)
Thus, these accounts indicated that the normalisation and prevalence of heavy drinking in some communities actively constrained the extent to which staff could integrate asking about and supporting patients with alcohol use into their day to day work .
Conversely, and illustrating how contexts can be barriers to implementation in one setting but facilitate it in others [ 44 ], some staff working in PL described how they had recently begun doing more systematic screening for AUD because it was recognised as being so prevalent in the patients they saw.
[Previously] unless alcohol was kind of front and centre and was an issue that was discussed from the get-go, it wasn’t always something that was really looked into in great detail as part of our assessments. Whereas now that we do the AUDIT, there’s an AUDIT-C tool with all patients. (Participant 4 – Nurse, Trust 1, PL)
Nonetheless, staff accounts more commonly focused on the need to tackle severe alcohol harm rather than preventative work. In-keeping with other research studies and clinical knowledge, the participants’ suggested that a key reason that patients aren’t routinely being asked about AUD in secondary care is because staff need to prioritise the presenting acute condition/s. Something which is colloquially termed ‘the rule of rescue’. Thus, any identification of AUD, where it did happen, was primarily focused on managing patients whose alcohol use was already affecting, or had the potential to affect, the treatment of their acute physical or mental illness. Participants almost always linked this to the pressurised setting and the restricted time they had to work with patients, as further limiting their capacity to address a patient’s drinking. This context is illustrated in the following quotes:
‘I’m asking [about alcohol] because it effects how I care for that patient and not necessarily about educating them’ (Participant 15 – Doctor, Trust 4, Medical). . .I think asking about the preventative problems, and screening for problems, is something that we just don’t do. If someone comes in and they’re alcohol dependent, realistically the thing you think about most is, right well we need to make sure that we’ve got the right things for if they withdraw, you don’t think, oh well shall we see if there’s anything we can do and to be fair, you don’t really have the time, I don’t think. (Participant 6 - Doctor, Trust 2, AED)
Overall, time and the focus on acute conditions, were commonly cited by staff as key contextual factors, that limited their negotiating capacity to ask patients about alcohol and to provide follow-up support.
Strategic intentions refers to how contexts shape the formulation and planning of interventions. Many staff accounts suggested that they perceived there was little visible commitment to the prevention of AUD within their NHS trust or at a national NHS level. Many staff suggested they had seen no communications about providing preventative support to patients with AUD from their trust:
There’s nothing to my knowledge, Trust–wide, of how we help this cohort of patients. There doesn’t seem to be anything written in stone, on the help that we provide. (Participant 21 – Nurse, Trust 6, AED)
Others emphasised that although they had seen some communications about alcohol from their trust, these were limited. Some participants’ accounts indicated a sense of frustration that alcohol was not being prioritised by the NHS and moreover that any care offered to patients with AUD was voluntary rather than a designated part of their core work. For example, in one trust it was noted that the role of the Alcohol Lead was not formalised:
At the moment it’s almost voluntary and there’s always something else that comes along that’s more immediate, more important or seems that way. People aren’t taking the longer view that if we don’t address this problem now then the tsunami of liver disease will just continue. (Participant 10 - Doctor, Trust 3, Gastroenterology)
Reframing organisational logic refers to the extent to which social structural and social cognitive resources shape the implementation environment [ 34 ]. The stigma which was evident at a structural level was also directly perceived to impact the care of patients with AUD at a relational level. Many staff mentioned that the identification of AUD and subsequent signposting for patients who drink heavily are obstructed because some staff perceive that heavy alcohol use is a personal failing and individual problem. Indeed, judgement or stigma was explicitly proposed by participants as one of the key reasons that AUD prevention and treatment interventions were not implemented, or attempts weren’t made to help people with AUD:
People find them incredibly frustrating and [like] they’re not real patients or people who need [help]. (Participant 4 - Nurse, Trust 4, PL)
This judgement was also seen to be compounded by austerity and the increased demands on health and social care post COVID-19, meaning those who were more challenging or difficult to help were often the easiest group to not manage.
Relational stigma appeared evident in the reluctance of some staff to speak to patients about alcohol. For example, a few participants expressed concern about how patients would respond if they were to ask them about their alcohol use because heavy alcohol consumption can sometimes be perceived by patients and wider society as a personal failing or as evidence of a lack of control:
It’s quite a personal conversation to have with somebody and you’ve got a small thin curtain between every single patient and having those conversations when everybody hears the conversation that you have in the bay, so I think that sometimes contributes to it. (Participant 24 – Nurse, Trust 7, Medicine)
Moreover, the effects of stigma seemed evident in the extent to which staff perceived people would be honest about or disclose their heavy drinking and the extent to which would subsequently make adaptions to investigate further. Some staff said that they did not have the time to build rapport with patients to generate a context where they perceived patients might be more likely to be truthful about their drinking:
It comes down to them being honest. If they say that they don’t drink a lot then we wouldn’t give any advice. (Participant 26 – Nurse, Trust 7, Surgical)
The data also suggests that the extent to which staff appeared willing to identify or support patients with AUD is related to them not seeing it as relevant to the presenting problem which relates to the prioritisation of acute conditions and the negotiating capacity.
Alongside contexts, we identified a number of mechanisms that appeared to be barriers to implementation across our participants’ accounts.
All participants’ accounts suggested that there was no mandatory training within trusts to support staff to deliver alcohol prevention work. While participants acknowledged there was indeed very little mandatory training about most conditions, many staff suggested they had not been trained post-University in how to have conversations with patients about alcohol, to assess need, or how to refer and signpost on:
. . we’ve got team days where we go through mandatory training and do little courses and do all our training, but there’s nothing about alcohol on there whereas it might be quite useful because we do get a lot of patients with alcohol issues so that would be beneficial. . we’ve had no training or updates on what’s out there in the community. (Participant 9 – Nurse, Trust 2, Medical)
In a small number of trusts, some staff with a specific remit around alcohol stated they were in the process of developing training about identification within their teams and appeared optimistic about the spread and impact of this.
Where staff did ask about alcohol, a barrier to referring people with AUD to appropriate services was their limited awareness of relevant services within the community. Indeed, a few participants conveyed the sentiment of Participant 11 who described their perception of asking about alcohol in their hospital as a ‘ tick box exercise rather than purposeful tool .’ (Nurse, Trust 3, Medical). Only a small number of participants seemed very knowledgeable about local community services; like Participant 9 above, most staff accounts suggested a lack of awareness of relevant organisations they could refer patients to. Some staff indicated that knowledge of appropriate services was made more challenging because of the frequent change in service provision and cuts and short-term commissioning of relevant voluntary and community sector services:
It is a bit vague at the moment as to exactly what they are going to do with the provider changing over. . when the Covid stuff started, they stopped coming in and just did electronic stuff. But I think they’ve started coming in again. But I don’t quite know what hours they are planning to come in, with the new changeover of people. (Participant 1 – Doctor, Trust 1, Gastroenterology)
In a context of frequent service changeovers and decommissioning, widespread poverty and austerity, and limited awareness of appropriate local services, there appeared to be a heavy reliance on referrals to primary care by staff, even when they didn’t know what primary care would offer patients. This is illustrated by this quote from Participant 15:
Sometimes if people ask me, or if I’ve found that they’ve got like deranged liver functions, I’ll often just sort of say to them, if it fits with an alcohol picture, I would say: “It does look like your alcohol use is affecting your liver, it might be something you think about cutting down,” but at that point I’m not always sure where to refer them to, so I usually end up saying you can get support from your GP. Yes. (Participant 15 – Doctor, Trust 4, Medical)
When asked directly in the interviews about whether they felt that managing AUD was their responsibility most participants stated that it was. However, their wider accounts indicated that many participants and their colleagues relied heavily on calling on staff in other departments to manage patients with AUD who they saw as better placed to address these patients’ needs. In particular, the participants commonly suggested that alcohol nurses or other staff in gastroenterology were most able to help:
In our trust, I’m not sure if it’s the same as any others, when we do the nurse’s admission, we ask how many units they’ve had and if they score over ten then they automatically get pinged to the alcohol nurses who will come and see them. Or we refer them and call the alcohol nurses here. . (Participant 28 – Nurse, Trust 8, AED)
Staff in the site where an ACT had recently been set-up suggested that the introduction of this service had significantly improved the care that they could offer people with visible presentations of AUD and provided a clearer route for signposting. However, the reliance on this service also served to illustrate the limited support prior to this in these sites and the significant care gap at other sites who did not have this provision. Moreover, the accounts of a few participants suggested that due to the high level of need for alcohol dependent support, the ACTs appeared to have little capacity to do preventative work:
The alcohol care team nurses are building up good relationships with some of our more frequent members that are coming on ward. And then they’re able to get permission off them to do more like referrals to [community alcohol service], discussions about tapering down or alcohol reduction therapy, discussions about cognitive behavioural therapies, discussions with housing officers and things, discussions with safeguarding. . having said that, like I say they are getting an abundance of referrals daily now and I think unfortunately it’s ended up a lot bigger than they were expecting, a bit of a mammoth task. (Participant 2 – Nurse, Trust 1, Medical)
In contrast to staff in other departments, as mentioned above, staff from PL teams suggested that identifying patients’ patterns of alcohol use, usually through formalised screening, had relatively recently become part of their core work. Nonetheless, the focus was still on management of AUD rather than prevention, as most indicated that the implementation of this was in response to the prevalence of heavy drinking in the patients they saw. Here the mechanism of collective action appears to be shaped by the context of poverty and austerity.
Participants’ accounts indicated that they had little information about the outcomes of the people that they saw with AUD. Some staff mentioned that the only time they saw patients again, whether or not they delivered an intervention, was when they re-attended. The following response was typical:
We put them on file with the GP letter, and we don’t know what happens after that. (Participant 26 – Nurse, Trust 7, Surgical)
In the context of this perceived futility, staff appeared to find it difficult to have hope for patients when they experienced only negative reinforcement. Compounding this it was also evident that the recording of information about alcohol use and any advice or signposting were limited in most departments. Although some PL services and some trusts seemed to be trying to record screening more systematically at the time of the research, it was still not mandatory and was not always prioritised as the following quote illustrates:
[We] have the AUDIT -C put on e-records, and that provided some challenges as well. . there’s a lot of things that are recorded, you get a lot of alerts, we know that. . staff just tap off them, if they’re not mandatory, So, it was about trying to sell it is an important message. (Participant 25 - Nurse, Trust 7, Gastroenterology)
Here again we see the link between contexts and mechanisms whereby the lack of systematic recording of patients’ alcohol use is likely to be influenced by the context of structural stigma and its impact on strategic intentions.
This paper reports the findings of a collaborative study between practitioners, policy makers, and academics which aimed to explore the challenges to the delivery of identification, support, and subsequent signposting for AUD in the secondary care settings in the NENC region post- COVID-19. Our findings broadly concur with what was already known about the challenges of implementing identification and support for AUD in secondary care hospitals prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the persistent contextual challenge of time pressures, and the lack of key enabling mechanisms, such as having a workforce with the skills and knowledge to confidently ask about alcohol and signpost patients appropriately [ 22 ]. However, our findings extend existing evidence by highlighting some additional barriers to alcohol prevention work in secondary care in the post-COVID-19 context. Moreover, the use of theory, specifically NPT domains, enables us to illuminate the interplay of context and mechanisms which make implementation of AUD care especially difficult in this setting.
A key contribution of this study to the extant literature is that it provides empirical evidence of how COVID-19 has served to amplify the challenges already experienced by secondary care staff trying to delivery preventative alcohol work in hospital settings. Many staff indicated that the sheer scale of people presenting with possible AUD since COVID-19, meant they did not have the time to ask people or to prioritise asking people about alcohol. Where people were identified as experiencing AUD, provision of effective signposting and support for patients was adversely affected by lack of staff awareness about relevant care providers and lack of capacity in local services due to the impact of austerity and cuts to public services. Two trusts in the study region had ACTs in place at the time of the interviews, as part of the wider NHS commitment to reduction alcohol harm in England [ 16 ]. This appeared to have increased the capacity of the non-specialist workforce at these two sites to refer patients identified as experiencing AUD onto appropriate specialist support. However, a tentative, but notable, finding of this study was that while ACTs were making a difference in these trusts for those with existing alcohol dependence, they were limited in their capacity to deliver more preventative work around AUD (initially part of their remit) due to the high level of need amongst the dependent patient population. This warrants further exploration, with further insights potentially to come via the wider programme of work around ACTs that is currently ongoing in England [ 46 ]. Overall, the study provides empirical evidence that the implementation of the preventative practices to support a reduction in AUD may be particularly difficult in areas of deprivation such as the NENC meaning that inequalities are likely to be widening with other more affluent regions.
Stigma, the process of marking certain groups as being somehow contagious or of less value than others [ 47 ], is internationally recognised as a significant constraining factor to the delivery of compassionate and appropriate healthcare for patients with AUD and other substance use in secondary care and other health and social care settings [ 47 , 48 ]. In this study we chose to approach stigma as a structural and relational concept, seeing relational stigma as developing from structural stigma [ 49 ]. The role of structural stigma for limiting the implementation of identifying, supporting, and signposting patients with AUD was striking, as our data highlighted that the prevention of heavy alcohol use does not appear to be a visible priority within individual trusts, and arguably the wider NHS. Limited resources were perceived available for this area of care, and little visible commitment to support patients with AUD despite the scale of the problem. Stigma was also evident at a relational level in our participants accounts of the interactions between staff and patients, notably staff’s reluctance to ask about alcohol use and their perception that patients did not want to disclose their AUD. However, it should be noted that many of the staff who took part in the study suggested that they did not perceive patients in this way yet continued to struggle to provide alcohol prevention care. Thus, this relational stigma is likely an important, but only partial explanation for limited care provision. Nonetheless, our findings suggest that structural stigma is one of the main barriers to the identification of alcohol use and care in secondary care settings in the NENC. This echoes the damning findings of the ‘Remeasuring the Units’ report, also published since the pandemic, that argued that stigma contributes to the missed opportunities in secondary care for patients who ultimately die from alcohol-related liver disease [ 5 ].
This study was conducted primarily as a vehicle to understand and bring about change in workforce practice around the prevention of alcohol harm in NENC secondary care services. It was an integral component of a broader Health Care Needs Assessment (2022) on alcohol undertaken in response to increasing levels of alcohol harm in this region of the UK, which led to recommendations over four overarching themes: service delivery; workforce; data; and leadership from the healthcare system. The results of the study have directly shaped the regional strategy for the reduction of alcohol harm, a key element of which is the integrated alcohol workforce strategy for the NENC which aims to better support the NHS workforce to prevent alcohol harm through: increased awareness of the Chief Medical Officer alcohol guidance; improved pathways to community-based alcohol treatment and recovery support; workforce training and development; and support for staff to address their own drinking. The evidence highlighting the importance of stigma have additionally led to a strategic drive for senior leaders to acknowledge the impact alcohol has on their organisation and the communities they serve, and to take action to work in partnership to reduce this. There is also cross-system support to tackle relational stigma, initially though a co-ordinated multi-agency media campaign.
Overall, our interpretation has signalled areas of policy and practice which can be targeted to try to increase the uptake of these preventive strategies in the secondary care settings. However, ultimately the findings illustrate that the challenge for implementation of these evidence based preventative measures is not just upskilling the workforce or increasing resources. It also indicates that we need to address the complex interplay of contextual factors and implementation mechanisms which have been compounded by the pandemic and contribute to reinforcing and increasing existing inequalities. The works contributes to calls for a multi-layered response to reducing alcohol harm and wider cultural change for how alcohol use and substance use is perceived.
A strength of the study is that it was undertaken in an area experiencing some of the greatest inequalities from the COVID-19 pandemic. This allowed us to see the challenges to delivering preventative work in these contexts, which might be similar in other regions. A further strength is that mapping the empirical data onto an evidence-based implementation theory, which has been widely use in different settings, enabled us to focus on the aspects of the implementation, that are likely to be important across other settings too. Framing the interpretation using the NPT domains has helped us to emphasise how contexts and mechanisms interact to make the implementation at this particular time and place difficult. A key limitation of the study is that as it was based in one region of England, we cannot know for sure if these insights are transferrable beyond this context.
Secondary care hospitals are an important setting for the delivery of preventative care for AUD, due to the frequency with which AUD co-occurs with other physical and mental health conditions. Prior to the pandemic there was evidence that non-specialist healthcare staff can find caring for patients with alcohol-related presentations difficult, meaning that identifying, supporting, and that signposting patients was happening inconsistently. In this study, we highlight the additional challenges facing secondary care staff due to post-pandemic pressures and the significant rise in alcohol-related harm in some regions such as the NENC. Thus, whilst the mechanisms for implementing alcohol prevention work in secondary care need attention, our findings suggest that the greatest barrier is contextual, including widespread structural stigma.
No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
Normalisation Process Theory
Alcohol Care Teams
North East and North Cumbria
Alcohol Use Disorder
Accident and Emergency Department
Psychiatric Liaison Teams
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Consumption
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In addition to co-authors WH and RB we are grateful to the four junior doctors Jamie Catlow, Rebecca Dunn, Sarah Manning and Satyasheel Ramful from the Gastroenterology Research and Audit through North Trainees who collected data for the study. We are grateful to Dr Matthew Breckons the qualitative methodologist who co-trained (with AOD and KJ) the junior doctors in qualitative interview skills. We are especially grateful to the thirty staff who gave up their time to participate in the research.
The project was funded by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System Prevention Programme.
AO is Deputy Theme Lead – Prevention, Early Intervention and Behaviour Change within the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria (NENC) (NIHR200173). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. AO and KJ are also part-funded by a NIHR Advanced Fellowship (ADEPT: Alcohol use disorder and DEpression Prevention and Treatment, Grant: NIHR300616). The NIHR have not had any role in the design, implementation, analysis, write-up and/or dissemination of this research.
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Katherine Jackson & Amy O’Donnell
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North East Commissioning Service, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Iain Loughran
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SH and RB designed the study; SH, RB and WH were involved in the data collection; IL and KJ analysed and interpreted the data with support from AOD, SH, RB and WH; KJ drafted the manuscript with support from SH, AOD, RB, IL and WH. All authors approved the submitted version.
Correspondence to Katherine Jackson .
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Favourable ethical approval was granted for the study by the NHS HRA (Ref: 21/HRA/1383). All research was carried in accordance with the study protocol that was granted ethical approval. All participants gave written informed consent to participate through the study participant consent form.
Participants gave written informed consent in the study consent form for their data to be analysed and included in research reports.
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Jackson, K., Baker, R., O’Donnell, A. et al. Understanding the challenges of identifying, supporting, and signposting patients with alcohol use disorder in secondary care hospitals, post COVID-19: a qualitative analysis from the North East and North Cumbria, England. BMC Health Serv Res 24 , 772 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11232-4
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Chronic pain is a debilitating and common health issue. General Practitioners (GPs) often prescribe opioids to treat chronic pain, despite limited evidence of benefit and increasing evidence of harms, including prescription Opioid Use Disorder (pOUD). Australian GPs are worried about the harms of long-term opioids, but few are involved in the treatment of pOUD. There is little research on GPs’ experiences diagnosing and managing pOUD in their chronic pain patients.
This qualitative research used semi-structured interviews and a case study to investigate GPs’ experiences through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). TPB describes three factors, an individual’s perceived beliefs/attitudes, perceived social norms and perceived behavioural controls. Participants were interviewed via an online video conferencing platform. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.
Twenty-four GPs took part. Participants were aware of the complex presentations for chronic pain patients and concerned about long-term opioid use. Their approach was holistic, but they had limited understanding of pOUD diagnosis and suggested that pOUD had only one treatment: Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT). Participants felt uncomfortable prescribing opioids and were fearful of difficult, conflictual conversations with patients about the possibility of pOUD. This led to avoidance and negative attitudes towards diagnosing pOUD. There were few positive social norms, few colleagues diagnosed or managed pOUD. Participants reported that their colleagues only offered positive support as this would allow them to avoid managing pOUD themselves, while patients and other staff were often unsupportive. Negative behavioural controls were common with low levels of knowledge, skill, professional supports, inadequate time and remuneration described by many participants. They felt OAT was not core general practice and required specialist management. This dichotomous approach was reflected in their views that the health system only supported treatment for chronic pain or pOUD, not both conditions.
Negative beliefs, negative social norms and negative behavioural controls decreased individual behavioural intention for this group of GPs. Diagnosing and managing pOUD in chronic pain patients prescribed opioids was perceived as difficult and unsupported. Interventions to change behaviour must address negative perceptions in order to lead to more positive intentions to engage in the management of pOUD.
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‘Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I’d like to see you in better living conditions’ Hafiz, Persian mystic and poet.
A leading cause of disability worldwide [ 1 ], chronic pain is defined as persistent pain continuing for longer than 3–6 months and occurring on most days [ 2 ]. It is a complex condition, ‘an individual, multifactorial experience influenced by culture, previous pain events, beliefs, expectations, mood and resilience’ [ 3 ]. It has been estimated that 20% of Australians over age 45 experience chronic pain [ 2 ]. Nearly one fifth of patients seen by their general practitioner (GP) are suffering chronic pain [ 4 ]. Rates of opioid prescribing by Australian GPs for chronic pain are high [ 2 ]. One or more opioid prescriptions, mostly oxycodone, were provided to 3.1 million (13%) of the Australian population in 2016-17 with 1.5% (46,500 people) taking them on a daily basis [ 5 ].
Long term opioid use, that is, daily use on most days for more than 3 months [ 6 , 7 ], is associated with increasing evidence of significant harms and limited effectiveness for chronic pain [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Risky opioid use or non-medical use of opioids in people prescribed opioids is common [ 12 ]. Opioid risk increases with dose and length of use [ 13 , 14 ]. Each day, in Australia, three people die and 150 are hospitalised due to pharmaceutical opioid overdose [ 5 ]. Other significant health risks include hyperalgesia (increased pain sensitivity), endocrine abnormalities, falls, fractures, motor vehicle accidents, aberrant medication behaviours and medication on-selling or sharing [ 8 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Nearly one in 10 people prescribed opioids for chronic pain in Australia meet criteria for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) [ 14 ]. OUD is categorised by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5-TR) as a pattern of opioid use with clinically significant impacts [ 18 ]. Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT), is an evidence-based treatment for OUD and prescription OUD (pOUD) and includes two opioid medications, methadone and buprenorphine [ 19 , 20 ]. In Australia, state based OAT programs allow GPs to diagnose and prescribe methadone and buprenorphine for OUD [ 21 ]. This treatment, like many other chronic conditions, can be appropriately managed for many patients in general practice [ 22 ].
In the UK, 50% of GPs prescribed OAT in 2005 [ 23 ]. While in Ireland, 54% of GPs trained in the management of OUD in 2018 [ 24 , 25 ]. In 2022, in contrast, 2,352 private prescribers (mostly GPs) provided OAT Australia wide [ 26 ]. With 31,926 GPs working in Australia in 2022 [ 27 ], this suggests low engagement, with only 7% of Australian GPs providing OAT. This is supported by research that suggests Australian GP assessment of pOUD, management with OAT and referrals for OUD to specialist Alcohol and Other Drugs services are low [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Australian and international literature suggests that issues of stigma, poor remuneration, low knowledge, confidence, and lack of specialist support adversely affect GP involvement in OAT [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Our recent scoping review found that current published literature described GPs’ concern regarding risk of prescription opioid overdose, addiction and diversion, but screening for pOUD was haphazard [ 35 ]. We could find no literature that explored Australian GPs’ experience of diagnosing and managing pOUD in their chronic pain patients for whom they prescribed opioids [ 35 ].
This research aims to gain an in-depth understanding of GPs’ attitudes and experience diagnosing and managing pOUD in their patients’ prescribed opioids for chronic pain in the community general practice setting in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to explore GPs’ experience of diagnosing and managing pOUD in patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain. The semi-structured interview method was chosen as it is useful to investigate individuals’ subjective experience [ 36 ]. We used the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to frame, code and investigate the issues [ 37 ].
TPB assesses an individual’s perception of the issues that surround a decision to undertake a behaviour and elucidates the factors that increase or decrease intention to undertake this behaviour. It describes three subjective factors perceived by individuals: subjective behavioural, normative and control beliefs. Behavioural beliefs are guided by emotions (affect) and thoughts (cognition) and inform positive and negative attitudes. Normative beliefs are guided by perceived social norms; what a person thinks others do themselves and whether others support or oppose the individual undertaking the behaviour. Control beliefs describe barriers or facilitators, both internal, e.g., knowledge, and external e.g., time. The negative or positive strengths of these three factors affect intention to undertake a behaviour, which influences whether the actual behaviour is performed [ 37 , 38 ]. The theory also suggests that subjective control beliefs can directly influence behaviour [ 39 ]. See Fig. 1 .
It is important to note that TPB only addresses individuals’ perceptions. It is not a model for behaviour change nor does it systematically address how systems affect behaviour.
The interview guide asked about participant’s experience with chronic pain and pOUD through the lens of TPB and their awareness of any policies or strategies to support GP opioid prescribing. (See supplemental File 1 – interview guide).
TPB factors and how they affect behaviour
A two-part case study supported the interview guide. Part one, depicted a 42-year-old woman prescribed opioids in hospital after acute pelvic and spinal injury some years previously, who attends her GP practice regularly for opioid prescriptions. Part two describes signs and symptoms that suggest pOUD. (See Table 1 ).
GPs in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were recruited via Primary Healthcare Networks, an Australian GP Facebook page called ‘GPs Down Under’ and via snowballing by email. All interviews were undertaken via a video conferencing platform (Zoom) from May to September 2021 by the lead author (HW). To be eligible, participants needed to be federally registered as medical practitioners, and working in the community primary care setting in NSW. The study was limited to NSW due to variations in opioid and OAT prescribing legislation and accreditation in each state/territory in Australia.
The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and de-identified. Data were stored on a secure server. A reflective journal helped support the audit trail.
The data were analysed deductively using the mid-level theoretical framework of TPB [ 37 ] and inductively with open coding, including thematic analysis [ 40 ]. Top-level codes were grouped under the ‘a priori’ conceptual categories of subjective behavioural beliefs, subjective normative beliefs and subjective control beliefs while open coding allowed the analysis of other aspects that were seen to be important [ 41 ]. Higher-order concepts were interpreted through testing of codes, reiterative reflection, and extensive rereading of transcripts. The data was managed via QSR N-Vivo software. Authors HW and BHR reviewed the transcripts to support data accuracy and integrity.
COREQ checklist for qualitative reporting [ 42 ] are included in supplemental file 2 .
We used an interpretive description approach. This emphasised analysis of in-depth contextual description, drawing on interpretation, clinical and research experience in order to understand practice-based issues [ 43 , 44 ]. The lead researcher (HW) is a GP, addiction specialist and PhD student with extensive clinical experience managing chronic pain, prescribing opioids and OAT. The senior researchers include a GP (MH), a primary care researcher (BHR) and an addiction specialist (NL).
Ethics approval was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee of the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (HREC 18/018 (LNR/18/POWH/156) and University of NSW HREC18/018. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations and informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in this study.
Twenty-four GPs took part in the study. They all saw patients with chronic pain and 23 reported currently prescribing opioids for this indication. Fifteen were female. There was a wide range of ages and practice experience. Participants worked across metropolitan, regional and rural NSW [ 45 ]. Five prescribed OAT currently (one was a GP and a Fellow of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine) and 2 GPs reported prescribing OAT in the past but not currently. (See Table 2 ).
This study used the three factors in TPB (see Fig. 1 ) to analyse the interviews, however there was an overarching universal theme of holistic and complex care.
Participants gave extensive responses to the case study patient’s presentation and her social, vocational, family, mental and physical co-morbidities. This universal approach may be linked to each participant’s identity as a GP and appeared integral to their professional approach to patients.
‘….how does the pain limit what she can do? how’s it affecting her relationships? What else is going on for her husband and her teenage kids? Endometriosis (a disorder of abnormal spread of the womb lining) … the psoriasis (a chronic skin condition) … mental health issues… she’s probably perimenopausal (the period of time around menopause) … she hasn’t even managed to get back to work…’ (GP18, female, metro, established GP).
Participants were aware of the complexities of managing chronic pain and suggested that chronic pain rarely presented alone, and this was difficult to adequately address.
‘No one ever comes in just for their chronic pain. And it’s a 15 minute consultation, usually that they’ve booked. And there’s a lot of other things going on….a lot of them are either too disorganized, too much going on with their life socially or within other medical conditions…’ (GP4, female, regional, new fellow).
Sitting underneath the theme of ‘holistic complex care in the general practice setting’ were the three factors of TPB.
Many participants sighed or paused for long periods when answering questions related to diagnosis and management of pOUD in chronic pain patients prescribed opioids.
Some participants described positive thoughts and feelings about diagnosing and managing pOUD. This included being a good doctor, doing the right thing, achieving something difficult and appropriate treatment leading to better patient outcomes.
‘because when you have the right diagnosis…. you have the right treatment…’ (GP1, male, rural, new fellow). ‘…it would benefit several of my patients in real life, and it would certainly benefit Judy’ (case study patient). (GP3, female, rural, registrar)
Drawing on past experience, most participants expressed high levels of negative thoughts and feelings when considering pOUD in chronic pain patients. They described the case study as ‘really difficult’ and a ‘heart sink patient’ , like patients they had seen in the past. Patients, whom, they had found to be time-consuming and someone they didn’t want to see or knew they would continue to think and worry about after the consultation.
‘a demanding patient… one of those patients, … oh, I have to see her today or you’d go home, and think, oh, why did I say that, or do that. So it’s one of those patients, that you kind of dwell on before and after the consult…’ (GP10, male, rural, established GP).
Most participants described the difficulty and futility of trying to talk to chronic pain patients about changing their opioid treatment.
‘You raised it a hundred times previously and like a broken record, you raise it again and at some point, you think, what’s the point? Like, I raised it a hundred times and it gets nowhere so why should I bother?’ (GP9, male, regional, established GP).
Many expressed a sense of nihilism, that there was not much they could do beyond prescribing opioids.
‘…you feel like there’s nothing I can do, apart from giving them this medication…’ (GP9, male, regional, established GP).
Participants were worried that diagnosing and managing pOUD would fracture the GP-patient therapeutic alliance.
‘… feeling like the rapport is broken, that they won’t come back and see you and you have no idea what happens to them …’ (GP16, female, metro, new fellow).
Some participants expressed regret prescribing opioids and described feeling guilty and complicit. They felt a personal responsibility for opioid harms experienced by patients.
‘…you have to come to terms with the fact that you have done something, which actually is not good health care. You know that’s a pretty sobering thing to realize that you’ve actually been complicit…’ (GP14, female, regional, established GP). ‘I feel quite guilty when people come in and they’re like this, because we’ve started (opioids)…. and now this person is in a whole heap of trouble, and mess. ’ (GP9, female, metro, established GP).
The risks of prescription opioid overdose and withdrawal were recognised by all participants. This led to feeling overwhelmed by the situation for some participants.
‘…if you do give them the medication you’re worried about them overdosing, if you don’t give them the medication you worry about them getting withdrawal symptoms…’ (GP17, male, metro, established GP).
Many participants described the onerous responsibility of managing pOUD long term if they diagnosed it, as they believed management was going to be difficult.
‘I don’t want to be the one to do it, because I don’t want to be the one that’s taking responsibility, I know this sounds horrible, but I really don’t want to be the one that’s taking responsibility for the ongoing care with this because I know that it’s gonna be really difficult…’ (GP20, female, new fellow, metro).
Some suggested that with all the competing demands placed on GPs, addressing pOUD was low on their priorities. They suggested that this was a group of people who appeared stable and didn’t complain about their medication. As a result, some participants suggested they found it easier to continue prescribing opioids for the management of chronic pain. The participants found considering the issue of pOUD immediately made the happy patient unhappy and took time, was complex and impossible to manage.
‘…these people generally are stable, they’re often not complaining too much, they just pitch up every four weeks, and we, we forget actually, it becomes very low on that list of priorities, if I’m honest, I think it just sort of gets sucked up in doing everything every day, and you have to actually make that conscious decision, are you going to address this problem?’ (GP4, female, metro, established GP).
Many participants expressed a guilty relief when patients with complex chronic pain presentations stopped seeing them. They expressed concern about the risk of burnout.
‘….you never want to be sacked by a patient, but I wasn’t disappointed….she was quite a demanding patient saturating my energy and my time…’ (GP11, male, rural, established GP). ‘…they’re long hard consults… you risk burning out really…I don’t want to burn out by loading up my days with dealing with this…’ (GP10, male, rural, established GP).
Most participants described feeling uncomfortable and avoiding difficult conversations about pOUD with chronic pain patients. As health professionals they wanted to help and found it difficult to frame the conversation in a way that would assist the patient to reconsider their treatment.
‘…how do I really explain that well to the patient, because a lot of them will just think, you’re not helping me, or you’re taking away something that I need. And I think that’s the hardest thing as a GP….is that you want to help. And so, if you’ve got someone saying well this is helping me and you’re taking it away, how you explain, frame that for them, I still find really difficult…’ (GP4, female, regional, established GP).
The difficulty of the conversation seemed to lead to therapeutic inertia for the participants.
‘…and especially if I’m running late, or busy or if I’m tired, there’s a temptation to just, you know, tie them over. Yeah, not have that difficult conversation.’ (GP9, male, outer metro, established GP).
The participants with training in the management of OUD expressed similar negative experiences and attitudes.
‘I find these patients really, really difficult. With what I feel is a reasonable amount of experience and knowledge about how to treat…I still feel uncomfortable…’ (GP3, male, metro, established GP).
Most participants noted that while the patient in the case study seemed to have some insight into their situation, this was uncommon. In their experience, patients had little insight or desire to change their medication and could not perceive doing anything differently. The discussion felt like a battle where the GP tries to discuss changing treatment and the patient defends their position.
‘…it’s ‘why are you even asking me this question, it’s not a problem, …it’s never been a problem before?’ … they know that they have to put up a fight to get the script, because there’s a general sort of culture of ‘no I don’t want to give this medication to you’ every time. You know, every time I ask, I have to fight for it.’ (GP2, female, rural, established GP).
Prescribing opioids for chronic pain was seen as part of a GP’s role but many did not consider managing pOUD as ‘usual business’.
‘…prescribing opiates, even large doses of opiates…the vibe is it’s a normal part of general practice, while the vibe is, I think, perhaps treating substance use disorders, and maybe particularly with opiate use disorders is not….’ (GP15, male, metro, established GP).
Some participants described the need to actively work to change their mindset, to stop and consider that the treatment they were providing could be causing harm.
‘I remember having to stop and just go, hang on, I am giving this medication that is causing her more harm, and it was such a different mindset for me to have to just go, this is not working and it was a medication I was prescribing for her.’ (GP13, female, metro, established GP).
Diagnosing/managing poud supported by others.
Many participants perceived that specialist pain and addiction services were happy for them to diagnose and manage pOUD as this would relieve pressure on their services. One participant suggested that some of their GP colleagues were supportive, but only because this meant they would not have to do this themselves. This was seen as a perverse disincentive to diagnose and manage pOUD.
‘…it would be; ‘I’m (The GP colleague) really glad that you’re (the participant) doing this so I don’t have to do it, and then everyone would refer…rather than taking it on themselves…’ (GP2, female, rural, established GP).
Some participants suggested that while they might be happy to undertake diagnosing and managing pOUD, they had to consider their colleagues who may be concerned about risks and how this would affect practice amenity and other patients’ safety. Some participants suggested that staff would not approve of people with pOUD and did not want ‘these patients’ in the practice.
‘Changing the stigma of my (senior) colleague…it’s not going to be easy to change his mind about things, change his views, his perception, and he would feel like, ‘what are you turning this clinic into?’’ (GP6, male, metro, new fellow).
Most participants perceived that patients themselves did not want a pOUD diagnosis, they did not want their management to change or become part of a stigmatised patient group, they did not want referral to drug and alcohol services and did not see themselves as possibly needing a change in treatment plan, such as deprescribing or OAT.
‘…this poor girl literally sat in my room crying, being like, “I don’t want to be labelled a druggie”….’ (GP19, female, metro, new fellow). ‘…they don’t see themselves as someone who should be on methadone or suboxone. And there’s a lot of shame and stigma around that …’ (GP2, female, rural, established GP).
Some participants recognised the complexity of dual diagnosis of chronic pain and pOUD and described a regulatory system that had a dichotomous view of the patients, they were either pain patients or had pOUD who had to be treated with OAT. For the participants, this meant that pOUD diagnosis inexorably led to OAT, something that no patient wanted. To avoid this, they avoided the diagnosis of pOUD.
Administrative staff responding to demanding patients at reception added to a sense for some participants that they were powerless and this increased the chance that an opioid prescription would be written and decreased their ability to drive change.
‘…they’re (patients) putting pressure on reception staff to make sure they’ve got the script. And so, I guess there’s that pressure to do what they wanted…and in the time they wanted it to be done. And I can feel that kind of balance of power on the doctor patient relationship. Switching more to them being in control, being more and more demanding and telling me what I was going to do, rather than me guiding them on optimal treatment and actually being able to help them make a change’ (GP18, female, metro, established GP).
Participants who currently prescribed OAT were less affected by the social norms of colleagues but were equally concerned about the patient’s desire not to be diagnosed.
GP colleagues who undertook OAT prescribing were seen as addiction colleagues not as mainstream GPs by non-OAT prescribing GPs.
‘….she (GP Colleague) is the addiction specialist…’ (GP24, male, rural, established GP).
This suggests that treating pOUD was not normative for GPs. Participants had little experience of other GPs prescribing OAT. Those who did prescribe saw this as a professional responsibility rather than something they wanted to do.
‘I’m not really interested in taking (more of) these (OAT) patients on …that’s just being honest.’ (GP10, male, rural, established GP). ‘It’s not my forte in general practice and I must admit, this isn’t something I seek out.’ (GP22, female, metro, new fellow).
Internal behavioural controls.
Many participants described lack of knowledge, skills and low confidence with diagnosis and management of pOUD in chronic pain patients. Many participants without addiction training did not know the criteria for the diagnosis of OUD.
‘…it is something that I don’t know a lot about, I don’t see a lot of, I’m not doing it all day long…’ (GP 11, female, metro, established GP).
Younger participants suggested they would be happy to prescribe but did not have the knowledge and skills needed to do this.
‘.it’s a knowledge and management thing rather than an I don’t want to do it. I just feel like I’m not sure how.’ (GP7, female, rural, registrar).
Many participants indicated that they felt unprepared to be involved in the management of pOUD. They suggested that patients with aberrant behaviours such as injecting and diverting medication needed addiction services and that they would not be able to manage these issues. For this group of GPs, patients exhibiting aberrant behaviour were negatively compared to chronic pain patients with dependence on pain medications.
‘…if I’m suspecting substance abuse behaviours rather than dependence on the medication someone with chronic pain can have, then it changes things, I need to involve more of an addiction specialist, or addiction services rather than to continue prescribing myself…’ (GP 12, female, rural, established GP).
Referral to specialist services was considered by most participants. They suggested that they would tend to refer patients like the case study to pain specialists and would be reluctant to refer to drug and alcohol services.
‘I haven’t done it (referred to drug and alcohol) for a long, long while, though…I probably haven’t had a lot of experience with it…’ (GP18, female, metro, established GP).
Concern and fear of perceived risks associated with prescribing OAT for pOUD in their chronic pain patients was a feature of many participants’ responses. They were concerned that prescribing OAT would lead to an influx of patients requesting this treatment and worried about being overwhelmed by this demand.
‘I don’t necessarily want to open the floodgates to all of the people who might be interested or need my help in that zone because there’s so much of it around here, and I don’t think that I can treat or see them all and I’m scared that if I open up that door that it will be never ending.’ (GP2, female, regional, established GP).
Lack of time, money and support, were universal to the participants’ experience. They described how limited consultation time and poor remuneration stopped them from engaging in what they saw as difficult, time-consuming conversations. The lack of adequate remuneration suggested for them that GPs’ time and effort was not valued.
‘…they’re long hard consults…not paid, as well as what you deserve to be remunerated for, you know how much effort you’re putting in and how much reward you’re getting financially is not great…at the end of the day …you want to feel valued…’ (GP10, male, rural, established GP).
Conversations with patients about their pain and opioid use were made easier with more consultation time for many participants.
‘I think, framing things correctly, is more difficult when you don’t have time. Just having plenty of time available and having just that sense of calm. It just makes your difficult conversation much easier.’ (GP 9, male, outer metro, established GP).
Treatment affordability was described by many participants as an important barrier preventing many patients from accessing alternatives to opioids.
‘…a lot of the alternative things that I can use though, are very restricted financially depending on your patient…’ (GP8, female, metro, established GP).
Participants working in private billing practices (government funded with additional patient co-payment) suggested a different experience compared to working in bulkbilling (wholly government funded) practices. These participants suggested their patients, who had higher levels of education, health literacy and better financial status, showed higher engagement with advised treatment options and greater ability to pay for more costly alternative treatments.
‘a lot of our patients are very much about prevention and trying to get off medication…because we’re private clinic,…that changes the dynamic and… I would say probably (the) overwhelming majority of my patients have…. university degrees and they’re pretty well educated and…have high health literacy.’ (GP16, female, metro new fellow).
Low levels of specialist support were seen as a barrier to assisting patients with chronic pain and pOUD by most participants.
‘I just don’t have necessarily have access to a chronic pain team or that kind of help…’ (GP7, female, rural registrar). ‘…the couple of times I’ve tried to work with drug and alcohol. The doctor I’ve spoken to hasn’t been that helpful and so that’s made me more reluctant to talk with them, because it’s kind of feels like well wherever I turn my patients are getting knocked back. And so, it’s hard to access this specialist support for my patients.’ (GP18, female, metro, established GP).
One GP who expressed interest in providing OAT described how he was inundated by patients from the public addiction service and had to stop accepting referrals. This was compounded by the lack of promised support from the specialist service.
‘I just got pummelled and eventually ended up saying, no. Sorry, I just don’t have the capacity to take on large numbers of patients, but also because the promise the system, the reality was always substantially less than the expectation, in terms of that support availability.’ (GP24, male, rural, established GP).
The role of specialist patient centred shared care and support was seen as a great advantage by many participants and one that could lead to better outcomes.
‘I think it can be fantastic, obviously, to have a shared care arrangement where, especially with complex comorbidity, then the more people on the team and the more eyes on the situation, the better the outcome is for the patients, 100% having expert advice that’s accessible and patient centred is terrific.’ (GP11, female, metro, established GP).
Some suggested that they had good understanding of their patient within their context and knew what local services were available. They suggested the value of good professional relationships with their local pharmacists.
‘I can ring my community pharmacist and go, Hey, what do you think about this person and their dosing? Do you think that there’s any issues or like, how do you think that they should go? …and I feel like I can trust them, I know them because they’re around the corner.’ (GP2, female, rural, established GP).
Many participants were worried that patients might experience stigma with other health professionals. This led to avoidance of using the term pOUD, with patients, in the medical record or letters to other services. They suggested that this may lead to inferior treatment by other health professionals.
‘I don’t love labels…if I’m referring a patient to hospital,…I don’t want them to be discriminated against any way…’ (GP12, female, rural, established GP).
The three TPB factors investigated in this study are summarised in Fig. 2 below.
Theory of Planned Behaviour factors
This study, based on GP self-report, explored the subjective behavioural, normative and control beliefs that impact pOUD diagnosis and management in patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain. Overall, the beliefs expressed by the participants suggest there will be low intention and therefore low levels of actual diagnosis or management of pOUD if this develops in their chronic pain patients on opioids.
All participants responded to the scenario in the case study with a holistic generalist approach considering the impact of multiple biopsychosocial issues. They gave considered, thoughtful responses regarding their difficulties and their failings in their approach to working with patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain.
Participants expressed feelings of conflict and futility in the face of diagnosing and managing pOUD in their chronic pain patients. They described negative emotional experiences, discomfort and fear, and feelings of being complicit in causing harms to their patients. They suggested that diagnosing and managing pOUD was important, but this was outweighed by their past experiences of difficult conversations, difficult patients, fragile therapeutic alliances, a lack of sense of control and a sense of futility and powerlessness that they could positively influence their patients’ use of opioids. This led to avoidance of these conversations. Difficult conversations with patients experiencing chronic pain have been previously described in the literature [ 46 ], but to our knowledge, the difficulty of conversations around diagnosing and managing pOUD in patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain has not been studied.
Diagnosing and managing pOUD was not the norm for participants and impacted by lack of support from colleagues, practice staff and specialist services [ 32 , 47 ]. The idea that staff did not want “these patients” in the practice belies the fact that patients with pOUD were already in the practice, just not yet diagnosed. Participants described positive support from some of their medical colleagues, but only because this enabled those colleagues to avoid diagnosing and managing pOUD themselves. Paramount was the lack of positive patient social norms. Participants believed that patients didn’t want to have these conversations, they didn’t want the diagnosis, or change in management. Participants believed that their patients saw themselves as pain sufferers, that they needed their opioids and did not want to consider management that would make them part of a stigmatised group of people with OUD.
Participants had few role models to provide them with a basis to undertake this behaviour. They expected to be left unsupported and unable to provide the level of care required for this chronic condition. Prescribing for pOUD was not seen as ‘normal’ work for many participants, but rather as specialist work, outside the responsibility of general practice. No one wanted this diagnosis, not the patient, not the participant and not the participant’s GP practice. The risk of ‘inundation’ that participants felt is compounded by a long standing lack of ODT prescribers [ 28 ] and the resulting unmet treatment need in Australia [ 48 , 49 ].
Participants described low levels of knowledge, skill, and confidence as well as barriers including limited time, remuneration, little specialist support and difficult regulatory requirements. Internal and external behavioural controls to prescribing OAT; lack of skill, knowledge, confidence, time, remuneration and specialist support have been described in previous studies [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. External controls also speak to systemic and structural issues, particularly time constraints that are integral to the ‘fee for service’ structure in Australian general practice [ 50 ].
Participants were highly aware of the risks associated with long term prescribed opioids [ 51 , 52 ]. However, their knowledge of pOUD, the variety of treatments available and regulatory requirements was often incomplete. The task of re-considering treatment options required participants to re-orient their approach deliberately and consciously. This did not come easily. Putting limits and boundaries on patient opioid requests was conflictual. Negotiating a person-centred approach that did not give in to patient demand was perceived to be difficult. Participants considered the role of reducing opioid dose, changing treatment plan but avoided the diagnosis of pOUD as they felt they had to choose between continuing the status quo, or diagnosing pOUD, a diagnosis that they felt must inexorably lead to a difficult change in management and force them to move the patient to treatment with methadone or buprenorphine under the NSW OAT program [ 53 ], despite the fact that this is not mandatory. This decreased participants’ intent to diagnose and manage pOUD and dovetailed into the participants’ fear that they would be overwhelmed by demand.
Stigma is often cited as a reason GPs avoid treating addiction [ 54 ]. Experience of stigma and discrimination prevents people seeking or staying in care, leading to poorer treatment effectiveness and adverse patient outcomes [ 55 ]. Stigma and bias were important factors driving participant beliefs and intentions in this study. This was not simple and had two important aspects; participants’ lived experience of difficult conversations with patients at risk of pOUD and their concern about the risk of patient stigma and discrimination by colleagues and other health services. Past experience led to a tendency to believe that all future conversations would be conflictual, that all patients would be complex [ 56 ], when in fact there are a wide range of patient presentations and levels of stability [ 57 ]. Both past experience and concern about stigma from other services led to inertia and avoidance of the conversation and the diagnosis. Medicolegal concerns about the implications of diagnosis were important, however participants were also aware of the risk of not diagnosing pOUD, including medicolegal risk [ 58 , 59 ]. On balance, the difficult emotional work, lack of social norms and adverse internal and external behavioural controls pushed them towards inaction, despite the risks.
This study examined the lived experience of GPs working in rural, regional and metro NSW. The participants spoke frankly about their difficulties. A qualitative method with a mid-range theory supported the study’s ability to do this as did the insider status of the GP interviewer.
Our participants included female GPs who tend to see more patients with complex and psychological issues [ 60 ] and younger GPs who may be more open to addressing addiction [ 61 ]. As a result, this group may be more open to the issue of pOUD in chronic pain and reluctance to diagnose and manage pOUD may be even stronger among other Australian GPs.
The study relied on participant’s self-report. Memory may have been selective, misattributed or exaggerated. Participants may have wished to appear more confident and comfortable than they really were. Social desirability bias may have led them to report what they felt they should do rather than what they actually do in practice. This may have been mitigated by the use of an experienced ‘insider’ interviewer; a GP who has experienced the issues and as a result was able to put participants at ease using a curious questioning style that encouraged frank discussion.
Australian State and Territory regulatory requirements limit access to OAT. In NSW, GPs can prescribe for up to 30 people without training and for 200 after training [ 62 ]. This is more liberal than other Australian jurisdictions, which have a varied range of prescriber restrictions. Given the complex barriers experienced by GPs in NSW, it is likely that less liberal rules in other jurisdictions will further negatively impact GPs’ willingness to prescribe OAT.TPB describes a framework for individual intention, and it is important to address systems issues that impact on behaviour, including societal stigma, fear and loathing of people with substance use disorders and lack of legitimacy for these as a chronic medical condition. Constraints including time, remuneration and regulatory requirements are both perceived and actual, they are structural and systemic. TPB cannot address this and is limited to individual intentions.
This research is limited to the experience of GPs and does not investigate the perspectives from other stakeholders such as patients, carers and policy makers.
Our analysis suggests that there were major perceived barriers to diagnosing and managing pOUD in patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain by GPs in general practice in NSW, Australia. Negative attitudes, negative social norms and negative perceived behavioural controls lead to low intention to diagnose and manage pOUD, and therefore low chance that this will occur, a decision which is associated with potential significant harms. Without adequately addressing these barriers, we cannot hope to change this.
Understanding GPs’ past negative experience and the influence of this on current behaviours is core to improving the diagnosis and management of pOUD in chronic pain patients prescribed opioids. It is essential to address not only the perceived behavioural controls such as time, remuneration and skills, but also to reduce the negative beliefs and strengthen appropriate social norms for GPs. These may be addressed by giving GPs opportunities to reflect on their patients with chronic pain through audit and education that includes building skills to manage difficult clinical interactions [ 63 ]. Repeated and early exposure to these complexities for doctors in training may assist. Ensuring people with lived experience of pOUD are involved in leading this training would be helpful as may building role models and champions [ 64 ] in primary health networks and GP colleges.
Additional support from specialist services to GPs (both in managing chronic pain and pOUD), training other team members in the practice on pOUD, including reception staff/practice managers, nurses, and allied health staff will ensure they have better understanding of the complexities of patients’ issues and skills to manage these. Providing a signal that this care is supported and valued through changes to funding mechanisms, i.e., creating specific Medicare item numbers for this treatment may also positively impact social norms.
Better understanding of the treatment options for people who develop pOUD for GPs with comorbidity (chronic pain and pOUD) treatment guidelines could improve knowledge and better nuanced regulatory approaches may support this.
There have been several policy changes in Australia including OUD prescribing guidelines, regulatory changes, and the introduction of real time prescription monitoring. It is unclear if these changes will be sufficient to change the frequency that pOUD is diagnosed and managed in general practice. Further investigation through the lens of TPB will help government, policy makers and service managers to assess the positive impact of these changes on this complex clinical presentation and GPs intention to diagnose and manage pOUD.
The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the sensitive, confidential, and potentially re-identifiable nature of the semi structured interviews undertaken. Additionally, our ethics approvals does not allow disclosure of these data. More details are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
General Practitioner
Prescription Opioid Use Disorder
Opioid Agonist Treatment
Alcohol and Other Drugs
Theory of Planned Behaviour
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The authors acknowledge the general practitioners who generously gave their time to participate in this research.
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HW undertook the research, interviewed participants, interpreted the data, wrote, and revised the manuscript. BHR, NL and MH supported and reviewed the analysis, reviewed, and approved the final version of the manuscript. and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis and take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to published article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. This research forms part of HW’s PhD through the University of NSW, Sydney, Australia.
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Wilson, H., Roxas, B.H., Lintzeris, N. et al. Diagnosing and managing prescription opioid use disorder in patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain in Australian general practice settings: a qualitative study using the theory of Planned Behaviour. BMC Prim. Care 25 , 236 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-024-02474-6
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The incidence of clinically avoidable enteral nutrition interruptions is high. ICU nurses, as the implementers and monitors of enteral nutrition, have a close relationship between their cognitive level of enteral nutrition interruption and the incidence of enteral nutrition interruption. The level of ICU nurses’ cognition of enteral nutrition interruption and the key factors influencing the level of ICU nurses’ cognition of enteral nutrition interruption are not known.
This study aims to explore the cognitive level of ICU nurses on enteral nutrition interruption and delve into the key factors that affect their cognitive level from the perspective of management.
A sequential explanatory mixed methods research design was used.
With the convenience sampling method, an online survey questionnaire was distributed to ICU nurses in Chongqing, and 336 valid questionnaires were collected. After the survey, ICU managers were invited to participate in qualitative interviews, in which 10 participants from five hospitals completed face-to-face individual semi-structured interviews and were analyzed with thematic analysis.
The survey found that ICU nurses had a good level of cognition towards enteral nutrition interruption but poor knowledge about the definition, causes, and consequences of enteral nutrition interruption, as well as negative attitudes toward active learning, assessment, and communication. And the longer work time in the ICU, joining the nutrition team, receiving systematic training, and acquiring relevant knowledge from academic journals more frequently were favorable to improving ICU nurses’ knowledge level of enteral nutrition interruption. Personal interviews further identified the key factors affecting their cognitive level, including (1) lack of knowledge, (2) lack of proactive thinking, (3) lack of enteral nutrition management programs, and (4) lack of quality management tools for enteral nutrition interruption.
Although ICU nurses demonstrate a relatively high level of cognition, there is still room for improvement. ICU administrators must take specific measures to improve the knowledge of ICU nurses, especially in non-tertiary hospitals, in order to prevent nurse-induced enteral nutrition interruption in all ICUs and improve medical quality.
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Critically ill patients often experience physiological, pathological, and metabolic disorders that limit nutritional intake, and the prevalence of malnutrition is as high as 38–78% [ 1 ]. Malnutrition refers to a state of energy or nutrient deficiency caused by inadequate intake or utilization barriers [ 2 ], and it is a major factor contributing to adverse clinical outcomes for patients. Studies have found [ 3 , 4 , 5 ] that malnutrition in ICU patients increases the incidence of complications such as ICU length of stay, days of mechanical ventilation, infections and organ failure, and mortality. Therefore, nutritional therapy is particularly important in the management of critically ill patients.
Enteral nutrition (EN) has become the preferred nutritional support treatment for ICU patients due to its alignment with normal physiological metabolic processes [ 6 ]. Guidelines recommend [ 6 , 7 ] that ICU patients should receive 80–100% of their target feeding volume within 3–7 days of initiating EN. 60–75% of patients in the ICU, however, as shown in several studies [ 8 , 9 , 10 ], do not reach the target feeding volume. Research [ 10 ] has found that the feeding deficiency rates were 54% and 15% ( p < 0.001) on trial days with and without enteral nutrition interruption (ENI), respectively, indicating a positive correlation between ENI and insufficient feeding.
Enteral nutrition interruption (ENI) [ 11 ] is defined as an interruption of EN lasting 1 h or more with continuous enteral feeding or if the patient does not receive the expected amount of nutrients within 30 min with intermittent enteral feeding. Studies have found [ 10 ] that the average ENI time for ICU patients is up to 12 (6–24) hours per day. The causes of ENI are underestimated target feeding volumes, feeding intolerance, medical procedures, etc., which can be divided into patient factors and subjective factors [ 12 , 13 ]. Among these, avoidable subjective factors related to medical operations account for approximately 72% of the total time of ENI [ 14 , 15 ]. This is related to multiple factors such as physicians, nurses, frontline administrators, and healthcare institution management. ICU nurses, as the primary role in EN screening, assessment, implementation, monitoring, and complication intervention, are closely related to the occurrence of ENI in patients [ 16 ]. Studies have shown [ 17 ] that nurses not starting EN in a timely manner after medical procedures or outpatient examinations are the primary cause of ENI.
The Theory of Reasoned Action [ 18 ] proposes that individuals make behavioral decisions through rational thinking, and this decision-making process is influenced by various factors such as knowledge, attitude, and social environment. Thus, nurse-induced enteral nutrition interruption may be related to their level of knowledge, beliefs, and consequent practice behaviors related to ENI. To explore the current situation of ENI caused by ICU medical staff, previous studies [ 19 ] have examined the cognition of ENI among ICU medical staff in Wuhan. Little study, however, has been found to explore the key factors that affect their cognitive status. Currently, ICU managers lack a unified and standardized EN management plan. Furthermore, ICU nurses and doctors have different levels of knowledge, and nurses interact with patients more frequently, so a questionnaire is needed to evaluate ICU nurses’ cognition of ENI.
ICU manager [ 20 ] refers to the doctor or nurse who is responsible for the daily operation, management, supervision, and improvement of the ICU. ICU managers, as one of the key personnel in the whole link management and quality control of enteral nutrition, usually view problems from an overall perspective, and their perspectives and observations are more objective, in-depth, and comprehensive, which helps us understand the difficulties and challenges of ICU nurses in practice. We, therefore, use a sequential explanatory mixed methods research design [ 21 ] to investigate the cognitive level and influencing factors of ENI among ICU nurses through a cross-sectional survey. Based on the results, we will develop an interview outline to delve into the key factors influencing ICU nurses’ cognition of ENI from the perspective of ICU managers. This will lay the foundation for developing targeted interventions aimed at improving ICU nurses’ cognition of ENI, and provide the basis for improving the EN management program, so as to avoid nurse-induced ENI and improve medical quality.
Research design.
A sequential explanatory mixed methods research design [ 21 ] was used that included both quantitative and qualitative research. The interview guide for the qualitative research was developed based on the findings of the quantitative research and served to complement and explain the quantitative results.
Participants.
Convenience sampling was used to conduct a cognitive survey on ENI among ICU nurses in Chongqing. The recruited object of this study was ICU registered nurses who had worked in general ICUs for at least one year. The first page of the questionnaire describes the purpose of this study and informed consent. Respondents can only access the survey questions after giving informed consent. After completing and submitting the survey, participants were considered to have given informed consent. In addition, researchers can judge according to the basic information filled in by participants to exclude those who do not meet the inclusion criteria. The sample size of this study was at least 193 according to previous similar studies [ 22 ].
The scale used in this study is the “ICU Healthcare Providers’ ENI Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Scale,” developed by the Yuanyuan Mi team in 2022 [ 22 ], which is used to understand the current level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of ENI among ICU medical staff. This scale comprised three dimensions: knowledge, belief, and practice, with 14, 10, and 17 items, respectively, and total score ranges of 14–70, 10–50, and 17–85. Items were rated using a Likert 5-point scale, with 1 indicating “not at all,” 2 “uncertain,” 3 “slightly,” 4 “fairly,” and 5 “completely.” Scores below 4 indicated poor cognitive levels of ENI among ICU nurses; scores equal to or greater than 4 indicated that ICU nurses have a good level of ENI awareness. Reportedly, the Cronbach’s alpha for the original scale was 0.953, the test-retest reliability was 0.795, and the total content validity coefficient was 0.975, indicating that the scale had good reliability and validity. In addition, the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.965 when the scale was retested using data from this study.
In this study, 10 demographic variables and the “ICU Healthcare Providers’ ENI Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Scale” developed by the Yuanyuan Mi team [ 22 ] were converted into an online questionnaire. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among ICU nurses in Chongqing in October 2023. 366 questionnaires were distributed through the questionnaire star platform, and 366 were recovered, with a recovery rate of 100%. Two researchers checked the content of the questionnaire and the duration of the questionnaire, deleted 30 invalid questionnaires, and finally found 336 valid questionnaires, for an effective rate of 91.8%.
Data were downloaded from the Questionnaire Star platform and analyzed in SPSS 27.0. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Means (standard deviations) and frequencies (percentages) were used for descriptive statistics. Differences and associations between ICU nurses’ EN cognition scores and demographic variables were analyzed using t-tests, chi-square tests, and binary logistic regression. Pearson’s correlation was used to assess the relationship between the total cognition score and the scores of each dimension.
Purposeful sampling was used to select ICU EN managers willing to participate in qualitative interviews from hospitals where the questionnaire was administered. Eligible participants included healthcare providers from general ICUs involved in EN management for at least three years and willing to participate in this semi-structured interview. A total of 10 ICU managers were included in this study for personal interviews. Information saturation [ 23 ] was reached at interview 8, meaning that no new themes emerged at the end of the interview process. Two further interviews were conducted to confirm the results.
Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted by the first and second authors with participants in December 2023. The interview guide (see to S1 ) was developed by the lead author, guided by the Theory of Reasoned Action [ 18 ], and based on questionnaire results, a review of domestic and international literature, and expert consultation. Participants were contacted by phone before the interview to explain the purpose and significance of the study, obtain informed consent regarding confidentiality principles, recording, and other issues. Interviews were conducted at mutually agreed-upon times, ensuring privacy and a quiet environment. The interview time should be controlled at about 30 min. During the interviews, non-verbal cues such as body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice were observed and recorded along with audio recordings. A pilot interview was conducted with two ICU managers meeting the inclusion criteria before the qualitative study’s implementation, but their data were not included in the final analysis.
Audio recordings and written notes were transcribed verbatim within 24 h of the interview’s conclusion and stored on a computer for backup. Data analysis was based on the Theory of Reasoned Action [ 18 ] and aimed to identify key factors influencing the improvement of ICU nurses’ cognitive levels regarding ENI. A deductive thematic analysis approach [ 24 ] was employed, involving the following steps: (a) familiarization with the data; (b) initial code generation; (c) theme search based on initial codes; (d) theme review; (e) theme definition and labeling; and (f) report writing.
To ensure reliability, the research team met regularly, and team members reviewed the study data and analysis results. For the quantitative study, the online survey was anonymous. To ensure the authenticity and validity of the questionnaire results, each respondent was given only one chance to answer the questionnaire and was required to answer all the questions before submitting the questionnaire. To prevent the inclusion of low-quality questionnaires, it was assumed that each question would take no less than 2 s to answer, and in combination with the number of demographic characteristics entries (10) and scale entries (41), questionnaires with an answer time of less than 2 min were excluded from this study. The researcher observed and collected the filled-in data through the background of the questionnaire and double-checked the extracted information to ensure the completeness of the information. In the qualitative study, interview transcripts were collected by two research members trained in qualitative research, and one researcher organized the audio-recorded interviews into text within 24 h of the end of the interviews, which was then returned to the interviewees for confirmation by two researchers who repeatedly read and proofread the information. Participant recruitment, interviews, and data analysis were conducted simultaneously to help researchers determine information saturation. No repeat interviews were conducted.
Ethical approval was obtained from the ethics committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (Ke Lunshen No. (139) in 2023). The front page of the questionnaire sent to potential participants during the quantitative phase had an “informed consent” option, which was clicked on to allow participants to access the electronic questionnaire. Participants who submitted the questionnaire were considered to have obtained their informed consent. Participants in the quantitative phase volunteered their participation, and the questionnaire’s demographic data did not include names. Each participant was assigned a numerical code to ensure the confidentiality of survey responses. In the qualitative phase, participants provided written informed consent, and their interview recordings were analyzed anonymously and reported solely for research purposes by the study team.
Demographic characteristics of icu nurses.
Among the 366 participants who completed the questionnaire, 336 (91.8%) were considered to have provided valid questionnaires. The mean age of the 336 study subjects was 31.24 ± 5.68 years, ranging from 22 to 59 years old. Among them, 192 (57.1%) nurse had junior professional title, a total of 285 (84.8%) held a bachelor’s degree or higher, and the average ICU working time was 6.88 ± 5.05 years. Most of the nurses worked in tertiary care hospitals [ N = 212 (63.1%)], but a few were members of the nutrition team [ N = 83 (24.7%)]. This survey showed that only 54 (16.1%) nurses had received systematic training on knowledge related to enteral nutrition, and only 25 (7.4%) nurses reported that they regularly obtained knowledge related to enteral nutrition from academic journals. (See Table 1 )
As shown in Table 2 , the mean score of ICU nurses’ knowledge of enteral nutrition interruption was 165.04 (22.86), which was higher than 164 (41 × 4), i.e., the cognitive level of ICU nurses regarding ENI was better. On the knowledge dimension, the mean score of ICU nurses’ knowledge of the definition, causes, and consequences of ENI was lower than 4, which was poor in this area; while " Unless contraindicated, the head of the bed should be elevated by 30–45° during EN administration to critically ill patients " and “When the medical and nursing-related examination, diagnosis, and treatment procedures are completed, enteral nutrition feeding should be resumed in a timely manner” had the highest scores, which were both higher than 4, indicating better knowledge in this area. The mean scores of ICU nurses in the belief dimension of ENI were all higher than 4, indicating better beliefs. On the behavioral dimension, ICU nurses scored higher than 4 on all behaviors except for lower scores on active learning about ENI, active patient assessment, and communication with physicians.
As shown in Table 3 , there was a strong positive correlation between the total cognitive score and the scores for the knowledge, belief, and behavior dimensions ( r = 0.830, 0.766, and 0.850, respectively, P < 0.01). There was also a positive correlation between the knowledge dimension score and the scores for the belief and behavior dimensions ( r = 0.487 and 0.549, respectively, P < 0.01). Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the belief dimension score and the behavior dimension score ( r = 0.535, P < 0.01).
ICU nurses were deemed to have a low cognitive capacity about ENI if they received a single-item score of less than 4. Therefore, a cutoff value of ≥ 4 was used to categorize the participants’ total cognitive scores, knowledge dimension scores, belief dimension scores, and behavior dimension scores into two categories: low (= 0) and high (= 1). These were used as dependent variables. Univariate analysis of ICU nurses’ demographics and cognitive scores showed that age, nutrition team membership, and frequency of acquiring relevant knowledge from academic journals were associated with ICU nurses’ level of cognition about ENI; professional title, nutrition team membership, systematic training, and frequency of acquiring relevant knowledge from academic journals were associated with ICU nurses’ knowledge scores about ENI; and frequency of acquiring relevant knowledge was associated with ICU nurses’ ENI belief dimension and behavioral dimension scores. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. (See Table 4 )
Variables with a P-value of < 0.10 from the univariate analysis were included as independent variables in a logistic regression model. The results showed that a high frequency of reading academic journals was a facilitating factor for improving ICU nurses’ cognitive level regarding ENI. Additionally, longer work time in the ICU, participation in nutritional groups, receipt of systematic training, and a high frequency of acquiring related knowledge about EN from academic journals were promoting factors for enhancing ICU nurses’ knowledge dimension scores regarding ENI (see Table 5 ).
Ten ICU managers with bachelor’s degrees or above, ages ranging from 40 to 53, took part in individual semi-structured interviews from five hospitals. The duration of the interviews was roughly 12–36 min (see to S2 ). Four key factors were identified from qualitative data analysis that influence ICU nurses’ cognitive level regarding ENI: (1) Lack of knowledge; (2) Lack of active thinking; (3) Lack of EN management plans; and (4) Lack of quality management tools for ENI.
According to participants, ENI is common in the ICU and is related to ICU nurses’ lack of knowledge about it. Many nurses are unclear about the definition, causes, and consequences of ENI. As Participant 5 described, ‘Many nurses are not yet aware of the concept of ENI and do not know how long a sustained pumping pause is an interruption of enteral nutrition, so much so that they are not particularly concerned about the time of restarting EN after a pause in EN, which leads to an increase in the duration and frequency of ENI in patients’. Furthermore, many participants stated that many nurses believe that pausing EN for a few hours during continuous enteral feeding does not constitute an interruption because the gastrointestinal tract remains active, which can damage a patient’s gastrointestinal function. Therefore, pausing for a few hours is similar to intermittent enteral feeding, allowing the patient’s intestine to rest. ICU nurses have a vague understanding of the definition and causes of ENI. What’s more, Participant 9 added, ‘Many nurses directly suspend EN when the gastric residual volume (GRV) exceeds 200 mL! Sometimes, when the GRV is assessed to be below 200 mL, the returned nutrient solution is discarded without realizing the relationship between ENI and adverse outcomes related to inadequate feeding’.
Participants believed that the limitations in ICU nurses’ cognitive level regarding ENI were related to their mechanical work and lack of active thinking. Various reasons for ICU nurses’ lack of active thinking were described. Notably, due to limited human resources, ICU nurses, apart from handling doctor’s orders and basic care, also need to deal with emergencies and adverse reactions among critically ill patients, such as resuscitation, vomiting, and diarrhea. At the same time, they need to dynamically assess patients and fill out numerous assessment forms, making their workload heavy. As Participant 5 explained, ‘For example, when ICU nurses administer a doctor’s order of 1000 mL of nutrient solution to a patient, they routinely adjust the feeding speed, mechanically fill out various forms, and habitually assess the patient’s enteral feeding intolerance. If the patient tolerates it, they simply finish the feeding and move on, rarely thinking about whether the patient’s EN feeding has reached their nutritional goals……If the patient is intolerant, they habitually discard the syringe return fluid when the GRV is greater than 200 mL or even 50 mL and directly suspend the patient’s EN!’ Participants felt that ICU nurses, as implementers and monitors of EN, had a diminished sense of active learning as their sense of active thinking weakened. Participant 6 stated, ‘ICU nurses lack knowledge of biochemical indicators related to EN (such as phosphorus), hemodynamics, patients’ total enteral nutrition target, calories, and protein, and believe that nurses do not need to master these, lacking active learning consciousness’. Although many hospitals have EN management teams, most participants stated that team members are not very motivated, often forced to accept tasks, and lack active learning consciousness, which may be related to their lack of demand, competition, and conflict of interest.
It was evident from the interviews that the management level varies among different medical units, and there is inconsistency in the quality of care provided by doctors and nurses. The absence of standardized EN management plans that can be referred to has limited the improvement of ICU nurses’ cognitive level regarding ENI. For example, there is a lack of solutions to address inconsistencies between theory and practice. Participant 4 described, ‘Nurses are confused about the different gastric residual volume thresholds recommended by multiple guidelines, resulting in behaviors such as suspending EN when the volume exceeds 200mL. There is a lack of regulations regarding GRV thresholds and guidance on how to adjust or reduce the feeding rate in our department’. Participant 1 stated, ‘Nurses are unclear about whether it is necessary to routinely aspirate gastric residuals every 4–6 hours’. Participant 6 added, ‘The department lacks an active feeding strategy for restarting enteral nutrition to promote early active venting of patients’. Furthermore, participants felt that the management of EN in ICU patients requires multidisciplinary collaborative management, but the triad of physicians, nurses, and nutritionists each had their own role and lacked a closely linked management process. Participant 7 described, ‘ICU doctors have better knowledge of nutrition, less consultation with the Nutrition Department is requested, and nutritionists are unable to dynamically assess the EN status of patients in a timely manner, to the extent that it is mostly left to the ICU doctors themselves to determine the problem of patients’ EN compliance’. And participant 3 said, ‘Currently, ICU nurses put a lot of effort into screening, assessment, implementation, monitoring, and complication intervention of EN, and their awareness is gradually increasing (smiled), while physicians are less involved in the management of the EN process!’ What’s more, participants described that the initial nutritional screening assessor varies from ICU to ICU, that some are nurses whereas others are physicians, that it is not yet known who leads the management of EN in ICU patients, and that there is a lack of a collaborative management process between the medical and nursing professions.
Participants noted that current clinical EN management primarily consists of EN guidelines, implementation procedures, nutritional screening tools, enteral nutrition tolerance assessment forms, and aspiration risk assessment forms. However, there is still a lack of quality management tools specifically designed for ENI. This makes it difficult for ICU nurses to identify avoidable causes of ENIs, which in turn hinders their ability to reduce the occurrence of such interruptions. Participants described some avoidable issues related to ENIs. Participant 6 described, ‘ICU nurses often pause EN when the amount of GRV exceeds 200 mL, lacking a standardized deceleration or reduction in volume’. Participant 2 described, ‘Clinical situations often arise where infusions are not completed within 24 hours……This is attributed to unreasonable infusion speed settings, excessive preoperative fasting durations, forgetting to report to doctors after suspensions, forgetting to restart infusions, and equipment malfunctions.” Although the EN management team has identified issues related to ENIs during the management process, they lack plans for implementation and problem-solving. They expressed a desire to use quality management tools to manage ENIs and reduce those caused by human factors.
Understanding the cognitive level and influencing factors of ICU nurses regarding ENIs is crucial, as their cognition has a direct relationship with achieving the nutritional targets for ICU patients’ EN [ 16 ]. This study helps ICU managers understand the key factors affecting the cognitive level of ICU nurses’ ENI in order to lay the foundation for ICU managers to develop targeted interventions aimed at improving the cognitive level of ICU nurses’ ENI. Analysis of the questionnaire revealed that ICU nurses generally have a good level of cognition regarding ENIs, with a poorer understanding of their definitions, causes, and consequences. Additionally, they exhibited a negative attitude towards actively seeking knowledge, assessing, and communicating. However, there is still room for improvement, such as by joining nutrition groups, receiving systematic training on EN, participating in related academic conferences, and regularly acquiring EN knowledge from academic journals. Based on this, ICU managers further explained the key factors influencing nurses’ cognitive levels: a lack of knowledge regarding ENIs, inactive thinking about achieving EN feeding targets, a lack of management processes for addressing inconsistencies between theory and practice, and a lack of quality management tools for ENIs. These findings provide a basis for ICU managers to improve EN management plans. Therefore, it is recommended that ICU managers accordingly develop targeted interventions aimed at improving ICU nurses’ cognition of enteral nutrition interruptions in order to avoid nurse-induced ENI and improve medical quality.
This study is consistent with the findings of Mi Yuanyuan [ 19 ] et al. that ICU nurses have a better level of ENI cognition. However, this study also found that the number of years working in the ICU and nutrition team members were the influencing factors for the ICU nurses’ ENI knowledge dimension scores. This may be related to the fact that only ICU healthcare workers in tertiary hospitals were included in the study by Mi Yuanyuan [ 19 ] et al. or to the fact that nutrition team members accounted for as much as one-third of the ICU nurses in the study by Mi Yuanyuan [19] et al. This is also a side effect of the unequal levels of ENI awareness among ICU nurses in different levels of hospitals. In the future, more ICU nurses in secondary hospitals can be included to explore the current status of ENI cognitive level of ICU nurses in different grades of hospitals. Furthermore, unlike previous studies [19] , this study conducted qualitative interviews with ICU managers on the basis of a questionnaire survey of ICU nurses, which explored the key factors affecting the cognitive level of ICU nurses’ ENI in more depth and laid the foundation for ICU managers to formulate targeted interventions aiming to enhance the cognitive level of ICU nurses’ enteral nutrition interruption.
In this study, we found that high years of working experience in ICU, joining the nutrition team, receiving systematic training, and a high frequency of acquiring knowledge related to enteral nutrition from academic journals were the contributing factors to increasing the level of ICU nurses’ knowledge of enteral nutrition interruption. The longer the working years, the richer the clinical experience and related knowledge of ICU nurses. However, as shown in this study, nearly half [ N = 154 (45.8%)] of the ICU nurses had less than 5 years of working experience; therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the level of ICU nurses’ cognition of ENI in other ways in order to balance the level of cognition of ICU nurses with different years of working experience. For example, by joining a nutrition team and receiving relevant systematic training, ICU nurses can be helped to gain a systematic, comprehensive, and in-depth understanding of knowledge related to enteral nutrition and to increase nurses’ awareness of and interest in the interruption of enteral nutrition [ 25 ]. This is to promote proactive thinking by ICU nurses and to improve their scores in proactive learning about interruption of enteral nutrition, proactive assessment of patients, and communication with physicians [ 26 ]. Further, ICU nurses can also compensate for knowledge blindness by frequently acquiring knowledge related to enteral nutrition from academic journals. Academic journals, as authoritative repositories of academic knowledge, have the most cutting-edge knowledge in the field, such as clinical guidelines and original research with practical guidance, and ICU nurses’ frequent acquisition of enteral nutrition-related knowledge from academic journals is conducive to a systematic and in-depth understanding of the guidelines, consensus, original research, and the frontiers of enteral nutrition in order to enhance nurses’ knowledge of enteral nutrition interruption. Therefore, ICU administrators can encourage nurses to join nutrition teams and conduct multi-pathway training to promote nurses’ acquisition of knowledge from academic journals in order to improve ICU nurses’ level of knowledge about enteral nutrition interruptions, as well as to promote nurses’ proactive thinking in order to avoid unnecessary enteral nutrition interruptions.
Nurses are susceptible to the influence of external factors, and procedures and systems are fundamental to regulating nurses’ behavior. The development of enteral nutrition management protocols is beneficial to standardizing ICU nurses’ management of patients with enteral nutritional feedings in order to improve the level of ICU nurses’ perception of enteral nutritional interruption. A national survey [ 27 ] found that enteral nutrition is usually prioritized lower than other urgent care needs for ICU patients. Furthermore, there is a lack of uniform and standardized clinical protocols for enteral nutrition management in critically ill patients [ 28 , 29 ]. This has hindered the improvement of the level of ENI awareness among ICU nurses in different levels of hospitals to a certain extent and is not conducive to the homogenization of ICU healthcare personnel in various healthcare institutions. Enteral nutrition is critical to the recovery of ICU patients [ 4 ]. It is necessary to enhance ICU nurses’ knowledge of enteral nutrition management to facilitate the development of standardized enteral nutrition protocols [ 30 , 31 ]. Currently, the threshold for GRV is not uniform in clinical settings, with 200–500 mL being the most common [ 32 , 33 ]. This is not conducive to ICU nurses’ judgment of GRV thresholds, which may lead to some degree to nurse-induced ENI. Furthermore, guidelines have recommended that routine monitoring of GRV [ 7 ] during the EN may not be necessary, but most clinical nurses still habitually aspirate gastric residual to monitor patients’ gastrointestinal intolerance, which may be related to the ICU nurses’ fear of the risk of patients’ vomiting or aspiration [ 34 ] or to their insufficiently in-depth view of the problem. At the same time, there is currently a clinical controversy over whether the gastric residual aspirates should be returned or discarded [ 35 ]. This may explain, in part, why some ICU nurses currently choose to discard the gastric residual aspirates directly to avoid contamination, and some ICU nurses choose to tie back the gastric residual aspirates to minimize the risk of fluid and electrolyte imbalance in the patient. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of standard enteral nutrition management protocols to address the currently controversial issues and to standardize ICU nurses’ behavior regarding enteral nutrition management.
The formulation of the scheme is conducive to standardizing the behavior of nurses, but the optimization of the implementation effect of the scheme requires the application of quality management tools. Currently, there is a lack of quality management tools in clinical practice to monitor the rate of implementation of EN measures [ 5 , 6 ]. Previous studies have shown [ 12 , 13 ] that the reasons for ENI in ICU patients include hemodynamic instability, high GRV, and medical procedures. It is difficult to avoid ENI, but as shown by Kagan et al. [ 36 ], the use of nutritional management feeding platforms (such as the smART + platform) can monitor ICU patients’ ENI in real-time, calculate the amount of compensation needed when restarting, and ultimately help patients reach their EN goal. In other words, most ENIs caused by ICU nurses can be avoided through the use of management tools28. As a fine and process management method, the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle method is a continuous quality management tool that targets clinical weaknesses, proposes countermeasures, and improves the implementation rate of measures. It has been widely used in ICU quality management [ 37 ]. Therefore, in the future, ICU managers can use quality management tools to dig deeper into the reasons for enteral nutrition interruption, promote the development and implementation of related plans, and solve the problem at the source in order to reduce avoidable enteral nutrition interruption, standardize nurses’ behaviors, and maximize the application of enteral nutrition management programs.
This study boasts both strengths and limitations. Leveraging the advantages of mixed methods research, we delved into the key factors influencing ICU nurses’ cognition of ENI from both the nurses’ and management’s perspectives. This lays the foundation for targeted interventions aimed at enhancing ICU nurses’ understanding of ENI, ultimately aiming to prevent such interruptions caused by the nurses themselves. Rather, we must acknowledge its limitations. Our use of sequential explanatory mixed methods means our ability to explore the critical factors influencing ICU nurses’ cognition of ENI is somewhat limited, but this could be addressed through alternative mixed methods designs. Furthermore, our study sample was limited to a geographical region, potentially limiting the generalizability of our findings. Future research could expand the scope of the investigation. Nevertheless, this study provides novel insights and valuable perspectives for ICU managers to improve their department’s EN management strategies.
Overall, the level of ICU nurses’ cognition of enteral nutrition interruption is good, but there is still room for improvement. ICU nurses can improve the level of knowledge related to ENI and increase their proactive thinking about the management of enteral nutrition target feeding compliance by joining the nutrition team, participating in the systematic training of knowledge related to enteral nutrition, and frequently acquiring knowledge from academic journals. Furthermore, ICU managers should apply a quality management tool for enteral nutrition interruptions and develop targeted interventions aimed at improving ICU nurses’ cognition of enteral nutrition interruptions in order to provide a basis for improving the department’s enteral nutrition management program, so as to avoid nurse-induced ENI and improve medical quality.
All data generated or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author [Chuanlai Zhang] on request.
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We would like to thank the nurses who participated in this study.
This work was supported by the Medical Quality (Evidence-Based) Management Research Program (Award No.: YLZLXZ23G107) in 2023 of National Institute of Hospital Administration, National Health and Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, Kuanren Talents Program of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and Chongqing Municipal Education Commission’s 14th Five-Year Key Discipline Support Project.
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Huiling Pan, Chuanlai Zhang, Ruiqi Yang, Peng Tian, Jie Song & Zonghong Zhang
School of Nursing, Chongqing Medical University, Yuzhong, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
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Conceptualization, ZCL; Methodology, PHL, ZCL, YRQ, TP, SJ and ZZH; Data curation, PHL, YRQ, TP, SJ and ZZH; Investigation, PHL, ZCL, YRQ, TP, SJ and ZZH; Formal analysis, PHL and YRQ; Writing- Original draft preparation, PHL; Funding acquisition, ZCL; Supervision, ZCL; Resources, TP, SJ and ZZH; Validation, TP, SJ and ZZH; Writing –review & editing, ZCL and YRQ.
Correspondence to Chuanlai Zhang .
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The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. And ethical approval was obtained from the ethics committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (Ke Lunshen No. (139) in 2023).
Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in this study.
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Pan, H., Zhang, C., Yang, R. et al. Cognitive influencing factors of ICU nurses on enteral nutrition interruption: a mixed methods study. BMC Nurs 23 , 433 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-024-02098-2
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Received : 04 April 2024
Accepted : 17 June 2024
Published : 26 June 2024
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-024-02098-2
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Learning sustainability: post-graduate students’ perceptions on the use of social media platforms to enhance academic writing.
2. literature review, 2.1. online communication through social media for educational purposes, 2.2. academic writing, 2.3. social media, academic writing, and the fourth goal of sustainable development, 3. research questions.
4.1. participants, 4.2. research approach, 4.3. research procedure, 4.4. data collection and analysis.
6. limitation, 7. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.
Click here to enlarge figure
Demographic Data | n | Percentages | |
---|---|---|---|
Gender | Males | 4 | 40% |
Females | 6 | 60% | |
Age range | 22–27 years old | 8 | 80% |
28–31 years old | 2 | 20% | |
Specialization in Masters | Educational Technology | 10 | 100% |
Specialization in Bachelor’s degree | Science | 1 | 10% |
Math | 2 | 20% | |
Computer Sciences | 4 | 40% | |
Arabic | 1 | 10% | |
Early Childhood | 1 | 10% | |
Social Studies | 1 | 10% |
Main Themes | Sub Themes | Frequency | Percentages |
---|---|---|---|
Social media tools | 7 | 70% | |
Microsoft Teams | 4 | 40% | |
Zoom | 3 | 30% | |
2 | 20% | ||
Telegram | 1 | 10% | |
Blackboard | 1 | 10% | |
Benefits | Easy communication | 7 | 70% |
Transcending the limits of space | 6 | 60% | |
Instant feedback | 5 | 50% | |
Repeat review files | 5 | 50% | |
Interactive guidance | 5 | 50% | |
Save time and effort | 5 | 50% | |
File and resource sharing | 5 | 50% | |
Transcending the limits of time | 4 | 40% | |
Diverse file format | 3 | 30% | |
Communicate experienced researchers | 3 | 30% | |
Favorite method of holding meetings | Distance | 6 | 60% |
Blended | 4 | 40% | |
Obstacles | Technical problems | 5 | 50% |
Poor face-to-face communication skills | 3 | 30% | |
Distracting | 3 | 30% | |
Lack of technical skills | 1 | 10% | |
Burden | 1 | 10% |
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
Al Mulhim, E.N.; Ismaeel, D.A. Learning Sustainability: Post-Graduate Students’ Perceptions on the Use of Social Media Platforms to Enhance Academic Writing. Sustainability 2024 , 16 , 5587. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135587
Al Mulhim EN, Ismaeel DA. Learning Sustainability: Post-Graduate Students’ Perceptions on the Use of Social Media Platforms to Enhance Academic Writing. Sustainability . 2024; 16(13):5587. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135587
Al Mulhim, Ensaf Nasser, and Dina Ahmed Ismaeel. 2024. "Learning Sustainability: Post-Graduate Students’ Perceptions on the Use of Social Media Platforms to Enhance Academic Writing" Sustainability 16, no. 13: 5587. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135587
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BMC Emergency Medicine volume 23 , Article number: 58 ( 2023 ) Cite this article
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Death caused by traffic accidents is one of the major problems of health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Rapid handover of the traffic accident victims and proper collaboration between the pre-hospital and emergency departments (EDs) play a critical role in improving the treatment process and decreasing the number of accidental deaths. Considering the importance of the collaboration between pre-hospital and emergency departments, this study was designed to investigate the facilitators and barriers of collaboration between pre-hospital and emergency departments in traffic accidents.
This research is a qualitative study using content analysis. In order to collect data, semi-structured interviews were used. Seventeen subjects (including pre-hospital and emergency department personnel, emergency medicine specialists, and hospital managers) were selected through purposive sampling and were interviewed. After transcribing and reviewing interviews, data analysis was performed with the qualitative content analysis approach.
The participants consisted of 17 individuals (15 persons in pre-hospital and emergency departments with at least three years of work experience, one emergency medicine specialist and one hospital manager) who were selected by purposive sampling. The interviews were analyzed and three main categories and seven sub-categories were extracted. The main categories included “individual capabilities”, “development of mutual understanding”, and “infrastructures and processes”.
Proper and practical planning and policymaking to strengthen facilitators and eliminate barriers to collaborate between pre-hospital and emergency departments are key points in promoting collaboration between these two important sectors of health system and reducing the traffic accident casualties in Iran.
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Traffic accidents kill about 1.2 million people and injure or disable 20 to 50 million individuals annually, accounting for 25% of the world’s deaths and 22% of the world’s disabilities. They are also the major challenge facing the global health system [ 1 ], as well as the health systems in low and middle income countries. Iran with 28,000 deaths per year has the first rank in the world in terms of the frequency of fatalities related to driving [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Road accidents in Iran are 20 times the world average and the second leading cause of death [ 3 ]. In Iran, the pre-hospital emergency department is responsible for providing primary health care and delivering the injured from traffic accidents to the emergency department, where usually one-third of its beds are occupied by road accident victims [ 5 , 6 ]. The process of traffic victims’ handover is illustrated in Fig. 1 .
The process of traffic victims’ handover in Iran
Initially, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) would be present at the accident scene and perform basic resuscitation measures on the victims of traffic accidents.
Then, the injured are handed over to the nurse in charge of triage in the hospital’s emergency department.
After being admitted to the hospital, the injured are visited by an emergency medicine specialist and the necessary measures are taken.
In the event of an accident, intra-departmental and inter-departmental collaboration is of great importance, and the providing effective services requires the collaboration of all health system staff [ 7 , 8 ]. According to a number of studies, one of the factors causing high mortalities in traffic accidents is the lack of proper collaboration between pre-hospital departments and emergency departments in many developing countries [ 9 ]. Accelerating patient handover, facilitating the continuation of treatment process, reducing mortality, and increasing satisfaction are the results of effective collaboration between pre-hospital departments and emergency departments [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].
Despite the great importance of collaboration and its significant impacts on reducing mortalities of road accidents [ 14 ], few quantitative studies have been conducted in this field [ 15 , 16 ]. A majority of studies conducted in Iran have also focused on the quantity and causes of delay in starting pre-hospital care or management factors [ 17 ]. Erie et al. reported the lack of proper collaboration between emergency department staff and other organizations as one of the challenges experienced by pre-hospital emergency staff and believed that they need to collaborate with physicians, nurses, midwives, and psychotherapists to promote care in patient handover [ 18 ]. The promotion of pre-hospital and emergency department collaboration requires identifying their challenges and problems. In this regard, identifying the experiences of the personnel involved in this process seems to be a great contribution. A comprehensive understanding of all aspects of this phenomenon is needed to identify facilitators or barriers affecting the collaboration between pre-hospital and emergency departments. Since neither quantitative studies nor one or more questionnaires are sufficient to approach such an in-depth understanding, the present qualitative study was conducted to identify facilitators and barriers of collaboration between the pre-hospital and emergency departments.
Methodology and population of the study.
The present study is a qualitative research based on the content analysis approach. This study was conducted on 17 healthcare professionals affiliated with Fasa University of Medical Sciences including seven emergency medical technicians (EMTs), six nurses (triage and emergency department nurses), two general physicians, one emergency medicine specialist, and one hospital manager. The data were collected from two pre-hospital emergency centers in Fasa City, and Valiasr hospital emergency department in Fasa, Fars, Iran. This major hospital is a trauma center receiving more than 2000 traffic accident victims annually.
The criteria for entering the study were having at least 3 years of work experience, having rich experience, and willingness to participate in the study. Purposive sampling initiated in 2015 and continued with theoretical sampling and individual in-depth individual interviews until data saturation was reached.
Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were used to collect the data. All interviews began with an open question, such as “Talk about a day at work and your collaboration with the emergency department staff.“ and some guiding questions like “Please give me an example.“ were also used to further clarify the topic. During the interviews, follow-up questions were asked to clarify the concepts. On average, the interviews lasted for 50 min. After explaining the purpose and the method of the interview and obtaining the participants’ informed consent regarding the recording of their speeches, the interviews were recorded and then transcribed verbatim by the researchers. The interviews were conducted by three qualitative research experts. The data were then reviewed several times to reach an overall understanding.
Two of the three researchers reviewed the data independently using standard content analysis methods, extracting semantic units from the interview statements (including words, sentences, and paragraphs), and coded them based on their similarities and differences. According to continuous thinking, interpretation, and comparison of data, key categories and themes were extracted and primary categories were identified. The final categories were extracted by summarizing the concepts and codes and according to the differences or similarities of the initial categories [ 19 ].
The interview was developed for this study has previously been published [ 20 ].
The validity of this study was obtained by using continuous comparison methods and observation by the research team and external observers. Credibility was obtained through researcher’s long-term engagement, the combination of data collection, repeated reviews, supervisor’s reviews, and continuous comparison of data. External member checks were used to achieve dependencies. Manuscripts and notes were handed to two associated professors, who approved the confirmability of the findings. Finally, the transferability of the present study was approved due to the description of the rich data [ 19 , 21 ]. Some ethical considerations included confidentiality of information, written informed consent form for interviews and interview records, and the right to withdraw from the study whenever the participants wanted, were considered. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.
The participants in this study were 17 individuals (13 people in pre-hospital and emergency departments with at least three years of work experience, two general physicians, one emergency medicine specialist, and one hospital manager) who were selected through purposive sampling. The average age of the participants was 35 years and their average work experience was eight years. According to the data analysis, three main categories (individual capabilities, development of mutual understanding, and infrastructures and processes) were extracted. Table 1 summarizes the three main categories and seven sub-categories we derived, along with a representative quotation for each of them (Table 1 ).
“Individual capabilities” was the first extracted category and consisted of two subcategories: “individual knowledge” and “individual experience.” The individual capabilities provide opportunities for staff to be more scientifically and empirically efficient and to demonstrate better interactive responsiveness in inter-sectorial collaboration and patient delivery to facilitate the collaboration process.
Individual knowledge.
The results indicated that the more successful the individuals were in acquiring knowledge individually, the more effectively they played their role in inter-sectorial collaboration. Higher levels of knowledge and being scientifically updated provide the basis for more effective and facilitated collaboration. Having undergraduate or higher educational records had provided the knowledge for these staff. In this regard, one of the physicians from emergency department stated, “When trained emergency staff handover a patient, they well-express the patient’s history and problems so that the recipient feels comfortable. In fact, personnel’s high levels of education make the patient handover less difficult.“
Another emergency medical technician from the pre-hospital emergency department said, “The trained personnel in the triage department ask many questions regarding the condition of the injured, the mechanism of the injury, and the patient’s affected organs. They also check symptoms. In this way, I feel comfortable when delivering the injured to them.“
Individual experience.
The results indicate that the more experienced the staff are, the more effective the inter-sectorial collaboration is, and that the higher level of experience as a facilitator provides the basis for more effective collaboration.
For instance, one emergency department nurse, with eight years of work experience mentioned, “I am more comfortable with someone with better and longer work experience because he or she knows better what is important when handing over a traffic accident injured.“
The most important foundations for the emergence of inter-sectorial collaboration were studying scientific books related to the field, having theoretical knowledge, and practical and field experiences.
The development of the mutual understanding was the second category containing three subcategories: “common educational program”, “sharing experiences”, and “empathic behaviors”. Developing mutual understanding provides opportunities for scientific, skillful, attitudinal and behavioral closeness of personnel and facilitates the collaboration process and vice versa.
Common educational programs.
The participants considered their joint programs important and emphasized on its effective role in facilitating collaboration. One emergency medical technician quoted, “The emergency department holds a monthly educational class on topics like trauma or transportation. We have more understanding and collaboration with the hospital staff who participate in these classes”. Another participant also noted, “The personnel who participate in joint workshops have a better collaboration because of a greater understanding of each other’s problems.”
From the participants’ point of view, strengthening the areas of developing joint educational programs, including joint classes and workshops, plays a key role in facilitating collaboration between the pre-hospital and emergency departments.
Sharing experiences.
Sharing experiences also facilitates collaboration. One of the emergency department staff said, “Staff who only have a working experience in a hospital triage cannot understand the current state of a person who has just been injured in an accident and is to be handed over; however, those who have experience in both pre-hospital and emergency departments better understand this condition.“
From the participants’ perspective, sharing experiences through having joint operational maneuvers and familiarizing personnel with the difficulties and complexities of work in both departments are crucial in facilitating collaboration between the pre-hospital and emergency departments.
Empathic behaviors.
Empathic behaviors, mutual understanding, and creating a friendly atmosphere in the work environment were other facilitators of collaboration, which were emphasized by the participants. The results indicated that respectful, professional, and friendly behaviors make inter-sectorial collaboration more effective. In these places, which are filled with engagement and friendship, solving possible shortcomings and problems are done with collective effort, and individual challenges are less likely to happen.
Regarding the positive role of mutual respect among staff, as an effective factor in reducing job stress and facilitating collaboration, one of the emergency department participants stated, “There is more collaboration between those who respect each other.“
Concerning the familiarity and the professional and friendly behaviors of the staff in these two departments, as another important factor facilitating collaboration, one nurse from the emergency department claimed, “When the staff are friendly and sympathetic, there is no conflict. This is not a problem for the patient. Our friendship allows us to deliver and admit patients in a shorter time since we do not pay attention to trivial matters. If there are some unaccomplished tasks, the emergency department staff will take care of them so that everything works better.” Another participant said, “There is much more collaboration between friends than between those who do not know each other.“
In the busy and stressful conditions of the emergency room and hospital, professional, respectful, and friendly behaviors along with reduced tension and conflict increase collaboration and mutual understanding.
Infrastructures and processes were the third category and the most important factor influencing collaboration between pre-hospital and emergency departments. The availability or unavailability of specific infrastructures and work processes was one of the facilitators or barriers to inter-sectorial collaboration. This category was sub-classified as “adequate and similar equipment” “and “deficiencies in work processes.“
Adequate and similar equipment.
The availability of appropriate communication facilities was important since entering accidents scenes to the end of the patient transportation process. The lack of equipment and communication standards between the pre-hospital departments and emergency departments was a noticeable barrier to collaboration. The lack of wireless communication between the ambulance and the hospital as well as the lack of a direct telephone line from the pre-hospital emergency headquarters to the hospital was another example of such inadequacies.
One EMT from the pre-hospital emergency department said, “I do not have the opportunity to directly connect to the hospital from the accident scene. I cannot report the number of injured and the type of injuries to the hospital from the accident scene for them to be prepared. Thus, the onset of their treatment is delayed”. According to the participants, the lack of communication equipment for coordination between the pre-hospital departments and emergency department was a problem that seriously disrupted the patient’s rapid transport to the hospital and preparedness for collaboration.
Regarding the importance of the equipment, since pre-hospital and hospital emergency departments are managed separately in Iran, and given that pre-hospital emergency staff sometimes have to supply and replace the equipment consumed for the injured in the hospital emergency room, the existence of sufficient facilities and equipment needed by the injured and the availability of similar equipment in both sectors are important factors facilitating collaboration among staff. In this regard, one emergency medical technician asserted, “Having enough equipment in the emergency room of the hospital removes the collaboration problems; whenever I take a patient, there are enough empty beds and backboards, so I hand over the injured easily and the emergency room staff prepare a backboard for me. In this way, there is no conflict”.
The adequacy and uniformity of equipment and consumables, sufficient number of emergency experts, and recovery beds in the emergency room were important factors facilitating the handover of road accident victims.
Defects and disorganizations.
Patient handover and evolution are among the most important pillars of interpersonal collaboration. However, the inadequacy of processes such as documentation, development of clinical guidelines, handover of the injured from traffic incidents, delivery of consumables as well as time constraints played the role of a barrier for optimal collaboration.
One of the participants from the pre-hospital emergency department stated, “The form containing the written emergency report and patient’s history does not contain a number of important issues. For example, no blood sugar level is included for a patient with a low level of consciousness. Besides, all patients’ information is not recorded”.
The defects in the current pre-hospital emergency forms were due to the absence of some important records and patient information, and inconsistent reporting during patient handovers caused disruptions in collaboration.
Another case was the lack of coding regarding work processes and clinical guidelines. One of the nurses working in the emergency department noted, “In general, the hospital does not have a specific protocol for the delivery of emergency patients taken by ambulance, even the beds are not classified according to the triage level to locate, for example, red and green patients for further diagnoses”.
The absence of a defined protocol or a specific person in charge of admitting injuries imposes extra waiting on technicians, prolongs the delivery time, interferes with personnel duties in these two sectors, and negatively affects collaboration. Another problem in the rapid handover of injured patients was replacing pre-hospital emergency equipment consumed for the patient at the accident scene and during the delivery by emergency department equipment.
One of the emergency medical technicians from the pre-hospital emergency sector mentioned, “There is no one in charge of receiving the supplies and delivering the consumed equipment to us. I have to wait for a letter to the pharmacy. At the pharmacy, I can receive the commodity after hearing complaints and questions like: Who wrote the letter? Why do you want it? For whom was it used? It is a waste of time; I cannot answer the questions posed by the pharmacy staff since my focus was on saving the patient!“ Another participant asserted, “Another barrier to collaboration is the delivery of equipment. I myself have to go to the pharmacy and waste a lot of time to receive them, since no one is in charge of doing the same task or the equipment could be available in the triage ward so that we do not waste our time.“
Incomplete delivery of consumables, as well as wasting technician’s time in the hospital, and the creation of an environment full of tension is another barrier to collaboration between the pre-hospital department and emergency department.
A time limit is set for patient delivery by the pre-hospital emergency staff. This means that the personnel have to deliver injured patients from the pre-hospital emergency department to the emergency department staff within 10 min. The requirement to comply with this time limit has posed a lot of stress on the pre-hospital emergency staff and interrupted their collaboration with the hospital staff. An emergency medical technician states, “They have set a maximum of 10 minutes for me to stay at the hospital. When it takes longer, I will receive an alert. If the patient is in critical condition with multiple traumas, I need double-checking because I have to explain many points to the doctor and nurses. Sometimes, I have a heart attack patient, so I have to stay longer and help him to be relocated and handed over; however, I cannot collaborate appropriately with the triage department since my 10 minutes is over and I am stressed out to get back to the station early.“
Data analysis revealed the facilitators and barriers to the collaboration between pre-hospital and emergency departments in the case of traffic incidents in Iran. They were classified into three categories: individual capabilities, development of mutual understanding, and infrastructures and processes. These categories represent the significant role of individual and organizational factors in creating the facilitators and barriers to collaboration.
The participants believed that the staff who were more successful in acquiring knowledge and experience, had better collaboration. Higher education and more hands-on experience created more effective collaboration between pre-hospital and emergency departments. These findings were consistent with Bost’s et al.’s findings indicating that the knowledge, experience, and capability of personnel are important factors affecting collaboration [ 22 ]. Oen et al. also pointed out the personnel’s lack of knowledge as the cause of patient handover problems and as one of the challenges facing collaboration [ 14 ]. One of the challenges to collaboration was the lack of experience, as Ace and Apkar noted [ 23 , 24 ].
The findings indicated that the development of mutual understanding along with a joint educational program, sharing experiences, and the occurrence of empathic behaviors were among the facilitators of collaboration as emphasized by the participants. In line with these findings, Jensen et al. also reported that the development of mutual understanding improves the quality of collaboration in patient delivery [ 25 ]. The results of the study conducted by Bruce et al. also highlighted the positive role of joint educational programs in reducing the risks of patient handover [ 26 ]. The participants stated that the existence of shared knowledge and experiences helps to better understand shared experiences with patients, the workplace, and medical interventions at the accident scene and hospital, leading to improved collaboration.
One example of mutual understanding is empathic behaviors. This factor contributed significantly to increase collaboration. Professional, friendly, supportive behaviors and previous knowledge about each other would increase encouragement, trust and mutual relationship among colleagues. In this case, the collaboration is facilitated and problems are solved with a better and faster collective effort. The findings of this study are confirmed by those obtained by Beh Nia et al., who believed that poor intragroup communication and mistrust are challenges to collaboration [ 27 ]. Dawson et al. also described staff encouragement as a positive factor in improving patient handover between pre-hospital emergency and emergency department medical staff [ 9 ]. Other researchers have also emphasized on the critical role of trust in facilitating and enhancing collaboration and reducing mistakes [ 28 , 29 ].
The results indicated that if infrastructures were provided and the processes were defined and formulated, they will facilitate collaboration; otherwise, they prevent collaboration. Establishing a timely, accurate, and professional communication is the basis of establishing a mutual collaboration. The results of this study showed that pre-hospital emergency personnel suffered from lack of communication facilities and believe that this deficiency affects patient care, reporting, and coordination. In a qualitative study, Khademian et al. investigated the effective factors in improving teamwork in a trauma center. They also announced the inefficiency of the information sharing system as a barrier to optimal teamwork [ 30 ]. Studies by Miyers et al. highlighted the relationship and coordination between pre-hospital emergency information systems and other relevant information systems to provide appropriate pre-hospital emergency services [ 31 ]. The role of communication equipment as one of the most influential components in the performance of Iran’s pre-hospital emergency department is similar to the results found by Adent. In his study, the preferred key feature of the French pre-hospital emergency department was introduced to be the well-suited communication equipment system [ 32 ]. On the other hand, technology has been served the health systems in different countries. A review of pre-hospital emergency systems in developed countries shows that online medical communication is currently one of the popular features used and plays a fundamental role in providing services to far-reaching areas, that is, the principle of equality in access to services and communication acceleration. In Iran, however, the technological progress in the pre-hospital emergency departments is not similar to that observed in the developed countries and does not have such features [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ].
In the case of other infrastructures, the availability of equipment and the similarity of equipment and supplies in the pre-hospital and emergency departments was one of the most influential factors for inter-sectorial collaboration. Mock et al. found the significant effect of physical resources on the care provided for traffic accidents [ 12 ]. In Vitkaitis’ study, the most important problems were emergency services in Lithuania, old ambulances, and the lack of integrated standards for medical education, which was emphasized as one of the factors affecting the poor performance of emergency medical services in this country [ 37 ]. These results are in line with the findings of the current study, indicating that pre-hospital and emergency department personnel are considered as specialists and capital in each country and their time is valueless. If they have access to sufficient infrastructure and facilities, they will have better collaboration, services, and will be more successful in satisfying patients.
According to the findings, the infrastructures and processes play an important role in effective collaboration; plus, their inadequacy causes problems in proper collaboration. Deficiencies such as lack of programming, specific processes for patient handover, equipment, reporting, and documentation are considered to be important barriers to effective collaboration. Accordingly, there is no specific protocol for admitting patients to the hospital and this had a negative impact on inter-sectorial collaboration. Bahadori et al. studied collaboration in crises and called detailed processes to achieve maximum collaboration [ 38 ]. As Bost et al. noted, clinical handover of patients is an important process that can help or prevent the safe transfer of patients to health systems [ 22 ]. Poor intragroup communication, mistrust, and lack of teamwork processes are among challenges facing collaboration [ 27 ]. Mizell et al. also assumed the standardization of handover procedures and training interdisciplinary issues as one of the important factors in enhancing collaboration between pre-hospital and emergency departments [ 39 ]. In Vitkaitis’ study, the lack of unified standards was considered as one of the negative factors regarding the performance of emergency medical services in Lithuania [ 37 ]. This finding was in line with the results of this study. Complete documentation and reporting are the major factors in the handover of traffic accident victims between the pre-hospital and emergency departments. The lack or shortage of necessary equipment and infrastructures for collecting and presenting patient information has posed challenges to inter-sectorial collaboration.
The present study was a qualitative study with the aim of identifying the facilitators and barriers of collaboration between pre-hospital and emergency departments to handover the injured from traffic accidents in Iran. One of the limitations of this study was the qualitative feature of it; therefore, the results cannot be generalized to other emergency centers. Another limitation was the small sample size we used in this study. Moreover, the data collection was limited to a specific region, which cannot be indicative of other emergency centers in the whole country.
More quantitative and qualitative studies with a larger sample size are suggested in other emergency centers in other provinces of the country in order to better identify the facilitators and barriers to collaboration using the experiences of other staff across the country.
The current study identified the main facilitators and barriers to the traffic accidents injured delivery from pre-hospital emergency sectors to the hospitals in Iran. The results of this study indicate that individual capabilities such as knowledge and experience, development of mutual understanding through joint educational programs, sharing experiences, empathic behaviors, efficient infrastructures and processes such as the existence of specific work processes, documentation and paying attention to its prerequisites, and the availability of adequate and similar equipment are essential components in improving and facilitating collaboration between the pre-hospital and emergency departments. Ignoring the mentioned factors are barriers resulting in increased mortality rates and injuries caused by road accidents. Considering the undeniable effects of collaboration on the quality of medical services provided to traffic accident victims and the important challenges of this stage, issues related to the patient handover should be concerned as a part of the pre-hospital and emergency staff educational programs. Health managers and policy makers should take measures to develop policies and programs to strengthen facilitators and solve the challenges of establishing an appropriate collaboration framework. Empowering facilitators and removing barriers can provide positive and effective grounds for establishing collaboration in order to improve health services for road accident victims.
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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This study is part of a PhD thesis approved by the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Our warm thanks go to the Research committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, as well as for participations in the study.
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Department of Nursing, School of Nursing, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran
Hasan Jamshidi
Department of Health in Disaster and Emergencies, School of Health, Safety and Environment, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Reza Khani Jazani
Nutrition Research Center, Department of Public Health, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Ali Khani Jeihooni
School of Health, Safety and Environment, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Ahmad Alibabaei
Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Obesity Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Shahram Alamdari
Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Majid Najafi Kalyani
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HJ, RKJ, AKHJ, AA, SA and MNK assisted in conceptualization and design of the study, oversaw data collection, conducted data analysis and drafted the manuscript. HJ, RKJ and MNK conceptualized and designed the study, assisted in data analysis and reviewed the manuscript. HJ, RKJ, AKHJ, AA, SA and MNK assisted in study conceptualization and reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Reza Khani Jazani .
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This study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science (Ethical Code: IR.SBMU.RETECH.REC.1396.1150). Informed consent was taken from all the participants. All methods were carried out in accordance the declarations of Helsinki. There was an emphasis on maintaining privacy in keeping and delivering the information accurately without mentioning the names of the participants. The participants were given the right to leave the interview at any time, and they were promised to have access to the study results.
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Jamshidi, H., Jazani, R.K., Khani Jeihooni, A. et al. Facilitators and barriers to collaboration between pre-hospital emergency and emergency department in traffic accidents: a qualitative study. BMC Emerg Med 23 , 58 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12873-023-00828-4
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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12873-023-00828-4
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Structural, interpersonal and individual level factors can present barriers for HIV prevention behaviour among people at high risk of HIV acquisition, including women who sell sex. In this paper we document the contexts in which women selling sex in Kampala meet and provide services to their clients.
We collected qualitative data using semi-structured interviews. Women were eligible to participate if they were 18 years or older, self-identified as sex workers or offered sex for money and spoke Luganda or English. Ten women who met clients in venues and outdoor locations were selected randomly from a clinic for women at high risk of HIV acquisition. Ten other women who met clients online were recruited using snowball sampling. Interviews included demographic data, and themes included reasons for joining and leaving sex work, work locations, nature of relationships with clients and peers, interaction with authorities, regulations on sex work, and reported stigma. We conducted interviews over three months. Data were analysed thematically using a framework analysis approach. The coding framework was based on structural factors identified from literature, but also modified inductively with themes arising from the interviews.
Women met clients in physical and virtual spaces. Physical spaces included venues and outdoor locations, and virtual spaces were online platforms like social media applications and websites. Of the 20 women included, 12 used online platforms to meet clients. Generally, women from the clinic sample were less educated and predominantly unmarried, while those from the snowball sample had more education, had professional jobs, or were university students. Women from both samples reported experiences of stigma, violence from clients and authorities, and challenges accessing health care services due to the illegality of sex work. Even though all participants worked in settings where sex work was illegal and consequently endured harsh treatment, those from the snowball sample faced additional threats of cybersecurity attacks, extortion from clients, and high levels of violence from clients.
To reduce risk of HIV acquisition among women who sell sex, researchers and implementers should consider these differences in contexts, challenges, and risks to design innovative interventions and programs that reach and include all women.
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Globally women who sell sex face a disproportionately large risk of HIV acquisition compared to the general population [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Among those at greatest risk are female sex workers (FSWs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) who are 13.5 times more likely to acquire HIV relative to the general population [ 3 , 4 ]. Research indicates that structural, interpersonal, and individual factors influence HIV prevention behaviour [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Structural factors are defined as the economic, social, political, organizational or other aspects of the environment in which women sell sex, and which might act as barriers to or facilitators of women’s HIV prevention behaviour [ 7 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Interpersonal factors are those which relate to risks or protective factors between women and their clients, or intimate partners [ 2 , 15 ]. Individual factors are those which relate to a woman’s individual attributes such as age of initiation into sex work, alcohol and other substance use, knowledge of HIV prevention, physical, and psychological attributes [ 6 , 15 ]. Together, the structural and interpersonal factors influence the contexts in which women who sell sex work. Several structural and interpersonal factors that influence condom use among sex workers have been identified, including zoning restrictions and regulation of sex work, how women join sex work, the location where sex workers meet and provide services to clients, experiences of violent relationships with clients, and harassment by authorities and police [ 7 ]. Stigma has also been identified as an important influence on the way sex workers work and as a contributor to their risk environment. Stigma increases the risk of HIV acquisition to sex workers, yet it is experienced in several forms at the individual, interpersonal and structural levels [ 14 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].
In Uganda, sex work is illegal and criminalised. Research that investigated the contexts in which women in Kampala sell sex has however shown that women join commercial sex work because of their disadvantaged backgrounds and restricted access to economic resources [ 11 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Mbonye et al. [ 11 ] showed that women providing services in outdoor locations like streets, alleys and parking lots faced more challenges than women providing services in indoor locations like nightclubs, bars, and lodges. These challenges included exposure to violence, stigma from the public, and visibility to police [ 11 , 23 ]. Kawuma et al. [ 20 ]reported in a more recent study that the places in which women sell sex in Kampala are fluid in that they move from one type of venue to another. All these studies also showed that women selling sex in Kampala faced violent relationships with both the police/authorities and with their clients [ 11 , 20 , 21 ].
It is however noteworthy that women included in these studies were participants from large epidemiological cohorts that recruited participants from low socio-economic settings, with little or no education, and who typically recruited their clients in physical locations, indoor or outdoor [ 11 , 23 ]. Women outside of these cohort settings, who have higher education, belong to higher socioeconomic status, and meet clients in spaces other than those identified in these studies have not been included in important HIV research, programming, and prevention efforts in Uganda to date. Research in the United Kingdom, USA, Australia, Japan, and India has reported the experiences of women who sell sex using internet websites and social media platforms [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. These women also face risks, violence, and crime just like their peers who meet clients in physical locations like venues and streets [ 24 , 27 ]. Understanding the contexts in which women sell sex and the strategies that they use to advertise, meet, and provide services to their clients will help us to understand HIV risk among women by highlighting how structural, interpersonal, and individual factors interact to influence HIV transmission. In Kampala, earlier studies have reported on the contexts in which women recruiting and providing services in physical locations work, but there is still a gap in knowledge about the prevalence of client recruitment using online platforms, how women who recruit this way are organised, and how this strategy affects their risk of HIV acquisition. Understanding these gaps will improve our understanding of the structural determinants framework for HIV prevention among women selling sex in Kampala. This paper presents a more comprehensive understanding of the contexts in which women sell sex in Kampala by including women who have not been included in prior research studies and emphasizes the need to reach them and target intervention efforts to them. This aligns with the UNAIDS strategy of leaving no one behind and reaching the populations at the greatest need of care [ 28 ].
Twenty women from Kampala and surrounding suburbs were included in the study, using two sampling strategies. The first sample – the clinic sample – included 10 women sampled from a cohort of 4500 women who had been attending a clinic dedicated to women at risk of HIV acquisition including FSWs run by the Medical Research Council/ Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (MRC/UVRI & LSHTM) Uganda Research Unit in Kampala [ 23 ]. Women who met clients in physical spaces like venues and outdoor locations had prior been recruited into the clinic through peers. The second sample – the snowball sample – included 10 women who met clients using online platforms including social media and websites such as Instagram. We identified one key informant who started the snowball recruitment as described by Heckathorn [ 29 ] and Rao et al. [ 30 ]. Women were eligible to participate if they were 18 years or older, self-identified as sex workers or offered sex for money and spoke Luganda or English. In our study, “women who meet clients” includes women actively recruiting clients, women searched out by clients, and women who are introduced to clients by peers, but meet using online spaces.
An experienced female graduate social scientist (MH) made first contact with all women, planned interview appointments, administered the study information and consent process, and carried out in-depth interviews with them. For the clinic sample, we selected women from the cohort using a random number generator in Microsoft Excel to generate 10 random numbers within the range of 1 and 4,500 inclusive, which matched the women’s unique cohort identifiers. We invited women with the corresponding numbers to participate. To identify the seed for the snowball sample, the female social scientist (MH) used the Instagram search function to search through posts of women who offered mobile (in-house) massage services or sex for money. She used the keyword “massage” and the location filter set to “Kampala”. The results included both personal accounts and accounts for massage parlors. We considered the first personal account that appeared on the search results as the potential seed for our sample. The female social scientist (MH) contacted the first personal account via the Instagram chat function, providing information about the opportunity to participate in a research study. The owner of the personal account agreed to take part in the study. After her interview, the seed identified through Instagram identified other women and provided their contacts. The female social scientist (MH) then invited the potential participants to the study, and the snowball continued until 10 interviews were completed. We allocated participant numbers from A01 to A10 for those in the snowball sample, and B01 to B10 for those in the clinic sample. Interviews were carried out between September and October 2022.
We developed the interview guide from a literature review of the structural factors that influence HIV prevention for women who sell sex, and a review by Shannon et al. [ 6 ], which presented a framework for the structural drivers of HIV and the pathways through which they interact with interpersonal and individual behavioural factors. This framework expanded structural factors to include macro-structural factors such as legal, socio-political, cultural, economic, and geographic contexts in which women sell sex, sex work organisation which includes the organisational structure, community empowerment and collectivisation of sex work, and the work environment which includes the physical, social, economic and political features of the environments in which sex workers operate, such as violence, access to condoms and anti-retroviral therapy (ART), and venue policies [ 6 ]. Using this framework, we developed this guide specifically for this study, and included questions on how women joined and why they would leave sex work, how their work was organised including recruitment and where they provided services to clients, their relationships with clients and authorities, the illegality of sex work, and the stigma they experienced. A copy of this interview guide is included as an additional file (see Additional file 1). We collected basic demographics at the beginning of the interview, asking women about their age, number of children, level of education, if sex work was the main occupation, and if they used social media to meet men for sex work. These were summarised in MS Excel, and the corresponding frequencies presented as descriptive statistics. Recruitment logs with personal information were stored in a secure access-controlled cabinet separate from where interview notes, recorders and computers were kept. After obtaining informed consent from the participants, we audio-recorded interviews, then transcribed and translated them into English. The social scientist (MH) took notes to back up the recordings. We imported the transcripts, translations, and interviewer notes into NVivo 12 for data organisation and management.
We used framework analysis as outlined by Gale et al. [ 31 ] to analyse the qualitative data. This analytical approach involves developing a thematic structure for interpretation, under which individual codes can be grouped and compared [ 31 ].
A study team member checked five random transcripts in English for transcription accuracy, and all the 10 Luganda transcripts for translation accuracy. In the first step of the coding, both the first author and the social scientist (MH) coded four interviews independently using initial frameworks constructed both deductively using the review by Shannon et al. (2015) and inductively using themes arising from the interviews [ 3 ]. The two coders then met and consolidated their coding frameworks into a revised version, which the first author used to finalise coding of all the interviews. From the consolidated coding framework, we developed a framework matrix with the themes and subthemes as the columns, and the participants as the rows. We populated the cells of the matrix with both summaries and representative quotes from the data. We then analysed the data from each of the columns to generate analytical memos on prominent themes arising from the data. All the steps of the analysis were reviewed by two other co-authors.
This study was approved by the Uganda Virus Research Institute Research and Ethics Committee (GC/127/912), the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (HS2386ES), and the ethics committee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (28,175). We obtained written informed consent from all the respondents before data collection. We compensated the participants 20,000 Uganda shillings (UGX), (USD 5.5) for their time, and 20,000 UGX (USD 5.5) for their transport. We did not offer current participants any incentive to refer seeds and informed them that they would not face any penalties whatsoever if they did not refer any seeds. To contact new participants for the snowball sample, the qualitative researcher was provided with a partial name and a contact number, or with the new participant’s Instagram handle. The identity of the referring participant was not disclosed to new participants. The referring participant was not told which of the potential participants suggested by her eventually participated in the study. A copy of the script we used is included as an additional file (see Additional file 2).
Twenty women participated in the study, 10 in each of the clinic and snowball samples. Of the 20 included women, 12 met clients using online platforms. Of these 12, nine were from the snowball sample and three were from the clinic sample. We reached out to 26 women for inclusion in the snowball sample, eight of whom opted not to participate, six did not come for their appointments, and two did not respond. In the clinic sample, only one of the 10 women was not reachable and was replaced. While women from the clinic sample generally had less schooling and were predominantly unmarried, women from the snowball sample generally had high levels of education, had professional jobs or were students in training for professional jobs, were able to negotiate better prices for sex, and were able to avoid outdoor confrontation with police, authorities, and the public. Table 1 below gives details of women’s individual characteristics.
The prominent themes we identified in our study included: how the women organised their work, why and how they joined or would leave sex work, the relationships that they had with clients, authorities, family, and their peers, and the stigma they experienced. We present them in Table 2 below and explain them in detail in the sections that follow.
Women mentioned economic need as the main reason for joining sex work, and this was driven by the loss of parents, abandonment by partners, economic hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, inability to continue school due to lack of school fees, and costs like rent and food.
I joined sex work because of the hardship I was going through after my husband abandoned me and the children, he was not paying their school dues, and they had nothing to eat. So, I decided to devise means of survival. (Clinic sample, 23–25 years, B04).
Women remained in sex work because of economic responsibilities and no alternative sources of comparable income. For women who met clients in public spaces, these responsibilities included costs such as rent, school fees and food for themselves and their families. For women who met clients using online spaces, responsibilities included special costs such as maintaining their lifestyle and good aesthetics both on online platforms and the social scene. They included rent for expensive apartments, hairstyles, makeup, expensive clothing and phones, trips outside Kampala and Uganda, and keeping up appearances on the Kampala party scene.
At this point as much as the money you get from sex work is little if I decide to leave, I won’t be able to sustain myself or even be able to start another business since I will not have money. The situation is bad these days, so if I leave sex work, which other job am I going to do? (Clinic sample, 23–25 years, B04). The money that it comes with is not little money. This is like salaries that people get for months, and I am doing it for just one day. So, it becomes addictive, and you must keep up with the lifestyle that you have started so you must keep going back until you are somewhere that you want to be. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A04).
While all participants mentioned economic need as reason for joining or staying in sex work, some women joined sex work because of trauma from being abused as children. The pain that they harboured from this trauma kept them in sex work, even if they were not proud of their work. Regardless of how they joined sex work or where they met their clients, most women would leave sex work if they had major changes in their social or financial status, for example if they got married, achieved financial stability through stable alternative and comparable sources of income, or having a home that they own.
Oh well yeah one day I want to have a family settle down and have a husband and have kids so definitely there is no way I can be married to someone when I am still doing this kind of work. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A04).
Where women met clients and provided services.
Women discussed recruiting clients in public physical spaces, in private virtual online spaces, and through go-betweens. The public spaces were both outdoor and indoor. Outdoor public spaces included streets, alleys, and markets, while indoor public spaces included venues such as bars, pubs, cafés, offices, churches, malls, casinos, hotels, restaurants, massage parlours and lodges. Women also discussed the lack of privacy and the higher risks of police prosecution and arrests, attacks by thugs, robbery, and exposure to judgement by the society, in addition to meteorological challenges like cold, windy, and rainy weather.
The person who took me on the streets [a female friend], one time we were on the street and her [the friend’s] uncle was the one haggling with her. (Laughs). Those are the things that make us leave the streets. At least you go to [the clients’] places or at our [the woman’s] place it has no problem. (Clinic sample, > 30 years, B02).
Women discussed benefiting from security offered by the management of indoor public spaces, even if in some cases they were charged a fee to be allowed to work at these places.
The street is not good but at the bar they first check clients before entering, they do not allow them to enter with keys, knives and other things which is not done on streets. That is why you see that many people who work from streets die a lot, that is why the street near [a pub nearby] many people die from there…For the places, I told you like [a specific pub], it is safe, even if a client becomes chaotic, we are protected by the guards at the bars. (Clinic sample, > 30 years, B03.
The private virtual spaces mentioned by women were online platforms that can be accessed from their homes, or other private and protected places. They included social media applications (apps) and sites such as Snapchat, Instagram, Badoo, and dating websites. Women who met clients using these spaces were able to reach many clients, had more time between the first contact with a client and accepting to offer services to the client. This time allowed them to make decisions both about their perceived safety with clients and avoid potential violent clients, but also about HIV prevention. They earned more than their peers who met clients in public spaces, and they provided services mostly in hotels, in the clients’ homes, and sometimes in their homes.
The advantage of hotels is that you can easily get help in case of any problems, which you can’t get when you are in someone’s home because its already night and some people’s homes are fenced even if you shout no one can help. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A07). Well, the truth is there is a lot going on, on social media. When you get offers, it is up to you to take them or not. Social media things are so easy now. You can meet people; you can easily associate with people from different parts of the world. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A02).
Women who met clients in virtual spaces faced some challenges particular to their strategy of recruiting clients, for example cyber threats and their online accounts being hacked into, new clients who did not want to pay being extorting money from them, and old clients who traded women’s confidentiality for money.
Because I had so many people writing to me. They wanted to meet me. So, I felt like Instagram wasn’t a safe place for me. And by then people used to hack into accounts. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A01).
Some women relied on pimps or peers who acted as go-betweens procuring clients for them. These women were assured of a reliable flow of clients from middle and high socio-economic status; and of more security since the go-between knew which woman was with which client, and at what location. However, they were prone to exploitation since the go-between usually took a commission off the women’s pay, while some protected violent clients.
Well, first there are what they call pimps who usually have contacts of men. Some are like delegates who come to Uganda, or who want to take girls outside for meetings outside of Uganda. These pimps are always looking for sex workers you don’t even have to look for them. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A04).
As much as some women used only private online spaces, others had a primary space where they usually met clients, and one ‘filler’ space they would resort to in case they didn’t have enough clients from their primary space. For example, women from the clinic sample mostly relied on online spaces during day, but used go-between or went out to clubs and bars in the night. On the other hand, women from the clinic sample relied heavily on physical spaces to recruit their clients.
During the day you can be on your phone, but you must go to clubs at night. If you are in another country, you can’t just stay in the house and chat on phone, you must go outside and look for clients if you need money. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A07).
Women who met clients using online platforms provided services in indoor spaces like their own and clients’ homes, and in hotels, but never mentioned offering services in public outdoor spaces. On the other hand, women who met clients in public outdoor spaces like streets provided services in indoor spaces, but also in the outdoor spaces where they met the clients.
Women who met their clients in public spaces viewed their counterparts who met clients using online platforms to be in a higher income and of a higher socio-economic status. The latter women discussed that the former operated a more versatile, more mobile, and less exposing form of sex work which was able to attract a clientele of higher socio-economic status and higher paying. Among women who met clients in physical spaces, women who met clients using online platforms were referred to as bikapu (plural for kikapu ) sex workers. A kikapu is a large travel or shopping basket that can be carried anywhere at any time, and whose contents are known only to the owner.
There are sex workers whom you will never see seated in corridors waiting for clients or even see clients entering her house. But she is also at her home doing sex work. If a client calls her, she goes, services the client, and returns to her house. They are always called ‘bikapu’ sex workers. (Clinic sample, 25–30 years, B05).
It was clear from the interviews that women who met clients using online spaces charged more than women who met clients in public spaces. Among women who met clients in public spaces, the highest amount received for a sexual act was 100,000 UGX (USD 27), compared to 40,000,000 UGX (USD 10,767) for those who met clients using online spaces. The latter had a minimum reserve price of 250,000 UGX (USD 67), compared to no payment or providing sex on credit among the former. Moreover, those recruiting online had more time to negotiate prices and compare offers from clients before meeting clients physically, compared to the former, who usually negotiated with one client at a time and when they had already met physically.
I can even get 8 million shillings. The lowest I get in a month is 5,000,000 shillings [USD 1,356] but it’s usually between 8 and 15 million shillings [USD 2,170–4,069]. When people who live abroad are around in large numbers, I can get up to 15,000,000 UGX [USD 4,069]. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A06). There are those sex workers who cannot come to my place where I work, but they meet their clients using the internet and somehow charge more expensively than me. I cannot compete with them; I am cheaper because I charge from 5,000 UGX [USD 1.40] but those sex workers charge from 100,000 [USD 28] or 200,000 UGX [USD 54]. (clinic sample, > 30 years, B03). You can get a customer who runs away after getting the service as agreed. That is what they call ‘bidding farewell with a zip’ (okusibuza zip). It depends, there is when we work tirelessly and you get 30,000–50,000 shillings [USD 8.20–13.60] monthly, and between two to three thousand (54–81 cents) daily. (Clinic sample, 25–30 years, B01).
Moreover, women who met clients using online spaces discussed being offered substantial non-financial incentives in addition to cash payment. In most cases, these incentives, which included gifts and trips within and outside Uganda, supplemented the cash payment clients offered and influenced women’s decision to reconsider some clients that had been rejected because the initial payment offer was deemed unattractive.
Women faced violence from clients in form of physical, verbal, and sexual abuse such as rape, clients removing or tearing condoms intentionally, and even death threats.
For me a man almost killed me. We went into a room, and I told him the amount of money I wanted. He said he did not have it. I told him to let me get out, but he started strangling me. Then I accepted that he had robbed me. (Clinic sample, > 30 years, B02). Ah God (covers her face with her palms and shakes her head) it was so hard for me. He slapped me, did everything you can think of. My dear, I gave up and had to act soft because some clients need you to be submissive. So, you must act like you are enjoying whatever he wanted. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A06).
However, some women met friendly and supportive clients who treated them well, got them business connections and supported them financially in their personal lives.
I will not lie to you; he was taking care of me just like any other man takes care of what he loves. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A01). Women’s relationships with peers were usually characterised by jealousy, mistrust, hatred, and threats. They fought with each other verbally, physically, and spiritually with witchcraft. That said, there was evidence of friendships among women who met clients in physical spaces. For example, they could demand their peers’ release if they witnessed their arrest. First, a massage parlour has a lot of girls. So, there is that hatred that comes along. Then there is a risk of being bewitched by those girls at the parlour. (Snowball sample, 23–25 years, A08). Yes, there are sex workers who compete against each other. I don’t know how to explain this but sometimes your fellow sex workers might notice that you are getting a lot of customers then they go and bewitch you. (Clinic sample, 23–25 years, B04).
Women who met using online spaces worked in isolation and were in many cases not able to get help in cases where clients turned violent. And because sex work is illegal in Uganda, women had no legal support or protection from authorities. Instead, they were exploited sexually and financially by the authorities, abused, and violated. All our participants faced some form of violence, abuse and exploitation from police and authorities.
We are treated badly. Police officers also come and arrest you and sometimes even rape you. Sometimes when they arrest you and you don’t have money to give, they force you to have sex. (Clinic sample, 23–25 years, B04. They all want sex (laughs). The truth is I don’t want to say everybody is bad among authorities but it’s like they all want to get something [sex]. Of course, I don’t give them, but I am sure there are people who do. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A02).
Authorities only offered protection when they got sexual favours from women, and when women paid regular fees to them. Women working in private indoor spaces like pubs discussed being protected from clients that turned violent, by private guards stationed at these indoor spaces.
Women who met clients in physical spaces were more affected by the illegality of sex work compared to their peers who met clients using online platforms. The former discussed restrictions on the areas or times when they could work, being exposed to arrest by authorities, and public shame and ridicule. The latter women discussed not knowing any laws against sex work, and their work not being hindered in by any regulations. However, majority of the women discussed not being able to report to authorities or disclose to friends and family in cases where they had been raped, for fear of prosecution, ridicule, and stigmatisation.
Our participants experienced internalised stigma where they felt like disappointments to their families, and unworthy of some things or levels of achievement in life, such as good loving relationships respect, and leadership positions in society. Some women thought they would only be able to fit in society if they left sex work. Otherwise, they had to live with persistent guilt, shame, and embarrassment from doing sex work, and consequently keeping their work secret from friends, family, and society.
Then there is also that persistent guilt of letting down your family and them expecting better. I don’t know but it’s embarrassing, how do you even start telling someone that you are getting money from having sex with multiple people not even one. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A07).
Women experienced stigma when they were shunned by their family and friends, health workers, local leaders, and the communities in which they live and work. They were pushed to operate in secrecy because they feared the stigma they would face if exposed. Women who met clients in public outdoor spaces like streets were most affected because they were more exposed to the public while working, and to arrests by authorities.
Banvuma [They insulted me]. I remember my mum told me I decided to go out and embarrass the family, yet they have degrees and masters. It was really bad. I never got invited to any family function. Ever since then I became a reject, and you know you can tell when you are rejected by how people look at and talk to you. (Snowball sample, 25–30 years, A01). Yes, from the neighbours one of them can see you or in a way find out that you do sex work. Then she comes and tells another person that you are a sex worker. Then they spend the whole day gossiping about you. (Clinic sample, 25–30 years, B05).
Women discussed not being able to get licences since their work is illegal, and not being able to report in cases where clients violated them. They were exposed to discrimination because they had no legal or structural backing for them to work or to be protected against violence, attacks, and exploitation.
We present the contexts in which women selling sex in Kampala met and provided services to their clients. Our participants met clients in physical spaces including venues and outdoor locations and using online spaces that included social media applications and websites. Earlier studies also found that women who sell sex in Kampala recruit clients in venues and outdoor locations like those we presented [ 11 , 17 ]. Our study goes a step further and highlights that some women met clients using virtual online spaces like social media platforms and websites. While this finding is new to literature on Uganda, it is consistent with studies carried out in other settings, where sex workers recruiting clients using online platforms like social media and websites were identified [ 24 , 25 , 27 ]. similarly to their peers who recruit clients from physical spaces, women who recruit clients using online platforms are also high-risk population, yet they have not been targeted in HIV prevention efforts. There is need for inclusion of women who recruit clients using online platforms in HIV prevention interventions.
We assert that women selling sex in Kampala work in settings where sex work is illegal and criminalised, and because of this they are forced to endure harsh treatment; they face violent and abusive clients; they are arrested, abused, and exploited by authorities; and they experience jealousy and violence from their peers, and stigma from society. It is known that sex work is illegal in Uganda, that women who sell sex have violent relationships with both clients and authorities, and that women selling sex get no legal protection [ 17 , 21 ]. Our findings are consistent with other studies in this respect. We go further and highlight the larger extent to which the illegality of sex work was felt by women who met clients in physical spaces compared to those who met clients using online platforms. This stresses the continued need for support to women who face violent relationships, and to create safe spaces for women selling sex.
We also show that women who met clients using online platforms had more time to engage and negotiate with the clients before meeting them physically, were able to generate a pool of potential clients and consequently had less pressure to find clients. These women also seemed to have better education and income compared to their peers who met clients in physical spaces. Despite these apparent individual level advantages, we show that in many ways women selling sex faced similar pressures at the structural and interpersonal levels and faced similar risks with regards to HIV acquisition.
All our participants faced challenges that are similar and consistent with those identified in earlier studies [ 11 , 17 , 20 , 21 , 23 ]. These challenges were sustained by gaps in structural, social, and interpersonal support with regards to HIV prevention. For example, all study participants were either unable or unwilling to obtain support from authorities in situations where they were abused, exploited, or violated by clients or authorities. Women who met clients using online platforms faced some challenges specific to them because of their client recruitment strategy. First, they had to deal with cybersecurity threats like their social media accounts being hacked into and being exposed on the online platforms where they met clients. The damage caused by such negative exposure would be amplified by information on these platforms being easily and affordably accessible to very many people simultaneously. Secondly, they were threatened with exposure and reputational harm by clients who did not want to pay for services. This further increased their already high costs of operation. In terms of risk, most women who met clients using online platforms were unable to get immediate help in case a client turned violent because they mostly provided services to clients in their homes (both the clients’ and women’s) and in hotels. These women were exposed to high levels of violence that was potentially fatal from clients, and yet they did not readily access the needed services because they were pushed to operate in secrecy due to fear of stigma, judgement, and prosecution. This was exacerbated by the fact that they were mostly university graduates with professional jobs and were therefore very secretive and protective of their involvement in selling sex. Women’s experiences of stigma were consistent with what has been found in the literature (Beattie et al., 2023; Cruz, 2015; Fitzgerald-Husek et al., 2017; Ruegsegger et al., 2021; Seeley et al., 2012). It is still interesting to note that our participants across the samples faced stigma in similar ways and that most were ashamed of their work. Even women who met clients using online platforms were unable to report clients because they feared the prosecution by authorities or judgement by society that would come with being exposed. Provision of safe structural and social environments that support and protect women who sell sex as they carry out their work is necessary. Additionally, interventions to reduce stigma for women who sell sex are still very important but should target the more secretive and protective women who recruit clients using online platforms.
While access to health care for women who sell sex has improved over the years, these improvements in access have been identified among women who sell sex and have been included in research studies. This includes women in the clinic sample of our study, who mostly meet clients in physical spaces. Access to health care and HIV prevention services for women who meet clients using online platforms has not been systematically recorded. Yet, our results show that women who meet clients using online platforms face similar and even more challenges than their peers who meet clients in physical spaces. While the common challenges that all women face, including stigma and violence are barriers to health care access [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], the additional challenges that women who meet clients using online platforms face could be additional barriers for access to health care. This calls for continued efforts to address the common challenges but also highlights the need for specific interventions to improve access to health care among women who meet clients using online platforms. Our findings on how women joined sex work or would leave are consistent with published literature. Earlier research showed that women joined due to economic need, or because of earlier traumatic experiences of sexual abuse, and they would leave if they achieved economic stability [ 16 , 21 , 35 ]. This further highlights the importance of continued efforts to empower all women, and protect them from sexual violence, regardless of their level of education, status of work, and where they recruit or provide services to their clients.
Women who met clients using online platforms were hard to reach for us as a research team, and we assume that it will be hard for other researchers, health service providers and policy to reach them effectively. In fact, most women who we contacted to be part of the snowball sample (16 of 26) did not participate in the study, and those who accepted did so with caution. The spaces in which our participants provided services were identical to those reported in the literature, i.e., in indoor venues and outdoor locations [ 11 , 17 , 20 ]. We however highlight the fact that women who met clients using online spaces always provided services in indoor spaces and never in public outdoor spaces. Intervention efforts that target women recruiting clients in venues and in outdoor spaces will therefore miss women who recruit using online platforms. To increase their access to health care, to support services, and to the HIV prevention services they need, research and policy makers need to generate innovative strategies that will reach and engage women recruiting clients using online platforms.
We used the framework analysis method. This method can neither handle highly heterogeneous data nor pay attention to the language of the respondents and how it is used [ 31 ]. We could therefore have missed some heterogeneity in women’s individual, interpersonal, or structural factors because of our choice of data analysis method. Moreover, we based our initial interview guide and coding framework on structural factors identified in the literature. Even though we used some inductive coding to complement the initial deductive framework, results from a similar study using a fully inductive approach would make an interesting comparison. We neither used complex theories nor sought to develop theory derived from the data but used robust framework analysis techniques to generate the major themes related to the structural factors that affect the sexual and reproductive health of women selling sex in Uganda. Despite these limitations, we present important results that could be applicable to women selling sex in Uganda, and other similar settings.
Over half of women in our study met their clients using online platforms and faced additional specific challenges and risks by recruiting their clients using online platforms. Regardless of where they met their clients, our participants worked in environments that exposed them to high risk of acquiring HIV. To reduce risk of HIV acquisition among women who sell sex, researchers and implementers should consider these differences in contexts, challenges, and risks, and design innovative interventions and programs that reach and include all women selling sex in Kampala.
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Female Sex Worker
Low and Middle Income Country
Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Anti-Retroviral Therapy
Uganda Shillings
United States Dollars
COrona VIrus Disease of 2019
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We are grateful to all the participants for their time and information, the entire UPTAKE consortium from which this work drew, Rachel Kawuma and Andrew Ssemata for the support on qualitative data analysis, and the MUL study site team for the invaluable support, thank you.
This work was supported by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) [grant number CSA2018HS-2525]. This work was conducted at the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit which is jointly funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) under the MRC/FCDO Concordat agreement and is also part of the EDCTP2 programme supported by the European Union.
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Kenneth Roger Katumba, Mercy Haumba & Yunia Mayanja
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Kenneth Roger Katumba, Yunia Mayanja, Mitzy Gafos, Matthew Quaife, Janet Seeley & Giulia Greco
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KRK: Conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, writing - original draft, writing - review & editing. MH: Investigation, writing - review & editing. YM: Funding acquisition, project administration, writing - review & editing. MG: Funding acquisition, supervision, validation, writing - review & editing. YWM: Funding acquisition, writing - review & editing. MQ: Conceptualization, funding acquisition, methodology, supervision, validation, writing - review & editing. JS: Methodology, supervision, validation, writing - review & editing. GG: Conceptualization, methodology, supervision, validation, writing - review & editing. All authors read and approved the final version.
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The study received ethical approvals from the Uganda Virus Research Institute Research Ethics Committee (Ref: GC/127/912), the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (Ref: HS2386ES), and from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Research and Ethics Committee (28175). All women provided written informed consent to participate in this qualitative methods study.
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Katumba, K.R., Haumba, M., Mayanja, Y. et al. Understanding the contexts in which female sex workers sell sex in Kampala, Uganda: a qualitative study. BMC Women's Health 24 , 371 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03216-7
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Revised on June 22, 2023. A structured interview is a data collection method that relies on asking questions in a set order to collect data on a topic. It is one of four types of interviews. In research, structured interviews are often quantitative in nature. They can also be used in qualitative research if the questions are open-ended, but ...
Yes or no and true or false questions are examples of dichotomous questions. Open-ended questions are common in structured interviews. However, researchers use them when conducting qualitative research and looking for in-depth information about the interviewee's perceptions or experiences. These questions take longer for the interviewee to ...
There are several types of interviews, often differentiated by their level of structure. Structured interviews have predetermined questions asked in a predetermined order. Unstructured interviews are more free-flowing. Semi-structured interviews fall in between. Interviews are commonly used in market research, social science, and ethnographic ...
Interviewing. This is the most common format of data collection in qualitative research. According to Oakley, qualitative interview is a type of framework in which the practices and standards be not only recorded, but also achieved, challenged and as well as reinforced.[] As no research interview lacks structure[] most of the qualitative research interviews are either semi-structured, lightly ...
The methods of qualitative data collection most commonly used in health research are document study, observations, semi-structured interviews and focus groups [1, 14, 16, 17]. Document study These can include personal and non-personal documents such as archives, annual reports, guidelines, policy documents, diaries or letters.
A structured interview is a quantitative research method where the interviewer a set of prepared closed-ended questions in the form of an interview schedule, which he/she reads out exactly as worded. ... Qualitative Research in Psychology, 8(4), 333-353. Maryudi, A., & Fisher, M. (2020). The power in the interview: A practical guide for ...
Introduction. Qualitative researchers are used to dealing with unstructured data in social settings that are often dynamic and unpredictable. That said, there are research methods that can provide some more control over this unpredictable data while collecting insightful data.. The structured interview is one such method. Researchers can conduct a structured interview when they want to ...
Semi-structured interviews are typically organized around a topic guide comprised of an ordered set of broad topics (usually 3-5). ... This article argues that, in qualitative interview research ...
A qualitative research interview is a one-to-one data collection session between a researcher and a participant. Interviews may be carried out face-to-face, over the phone or via video call using a service like Skype or Zoom. There are three main types of qualitative research interview - structured, unstructured or semi-structured.
Interviews are the most commonly used qualitative data gathering technique and are used with grounded theory, focus groups, and case studies. The length of an interview varies. They may be anywhere from thirty minutes to several hours in length, depending on your research approach. Structured interviews use a set list of questions which need to ...
Qualitative interviewing is a foundational method in qualitative research and is widely used in health research and the social sciences. Both qualitative semi-structured and in-depth unstructured interviews use verbal communication, mostly in face-to-face interactions, to collect data about the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of participants.
182 DOING RESEARCH Learning how to design and use structured interviews, questionnaires and observation instruments is an important skill for research-ers. Such survey instruments can be used in many types of research, from case study, to cross-sectional survey, to experiment. A study of this sort can involve anything from a short
A semi-structured interview is a type of qualitative interview that has a set of premeditated questions yet, allows the interviewer to explore new developments in the cause of the interview. In some way, it represents the midpoint between structured and unstructured interviews. ... It cannot be used to gather qualitative information in research
Introduction. In medical education research, the qualitative research interview is a viable and highly utilized data-collection tool (DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree Citation 2006; Jamshed Citation 2014).There are a range of interview formats, conducted with both individuals and groups, where semi-structured interviews are becoming increasingly prevalent in medical education research.
If you need 10 interviews, it is a good idea to plan for 15. Likely, a few will cancel, delay, or not produce useful data. 5. Not keeping your golden thread front of mind. We touched on this a little earlier, but it is a key point that should be central to your entire research process.
Benefits. Structured interviews can be conducted efficiently by interviewers trained only to follow the instructions on the interview guide or questionnaire. Structured interviews do not require the development of rapport between interviewer and interviewee, and they can produce consistent data that can be compared across a number of respondents.
Semi-Structured: Semi-Structured Interview. Entry in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methodsby Lioness Ayres; Editor: Lisa M. Given The semi-structured interview is a qualitative data collection strategy in which the researcher asks informants a series of predetermined but open-ended questions.The researcher has more control over the topics of the interview than in unstructured ...
Research interviews are a fundamental qualitative research method 15 and are utilised across methodological approaches. Interviews enable the researcher to learn in depth about the perspectives ...
There are a variety of methods of data collection in qualitative research, including observations, textual or visual analysis (eg from books or videos) and interviews (individual or group). 1 ...
Qualitative research using semi-structured interviews typically employs an iterative process in which data collection and analysis occur concurrently to refine questions and add new prompts to explore relevant topics inspired by participants in previous interviews to gain an in-depth understanding of the research question (DeJonckheere & Vaughn, 2019).
Diverse backgrounds and cultures within a program enhance research, innovation, and collaboration ... In 2020 our program began using structured interview questions and blinded interviewers to all but the personal statement and letters of recommendation. ... for emergency medicine residency admissions: a brief report and qualitative analysis. J ...
In qualitative research, researchers often conduct semi-structured interviews with people familiar to them, but there are limited guidelines for researchers who conduct interviews to obtain curriculum-related information with academic colleagues who work in the same area of practice but at different higher education institutions.
Abstract. This chapter gives an introduction to qualitative interviewing in its unstructured and semistructured forms. Initially, the human world is depicted as a conversational reality in which interviewing takes a central position as a research method.
Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 non-alcohol specialist staff (10 doctors, 20 nurses) in eight secondary care hospitals across the NENC between June and October 2021. Data were analysed inductively and deductively to identify key codes and themes, with Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) then used to structure the ...
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This research is a qualitative study using content analysis. In order to collect data, semi-structured interviews were used. Seventeen subjects (including pre-hospital and emergency department personnel, emergency medicine specialists, and hospital managers) were selected through purposive sampling and were interviewed.
Background Structural, interpersonal and individual level factors can present barriers for HIV prevention behaviour among people at high risk of HIV acquisition, including women who sell sex. In this paper we document the contexts in which women selling sex in Kampala meet and provide services to their clients. Methods We collected qualitative data using semi-structured interviews. Women were ...