Statistical Methods for Health Care Research

Anybody can write down a list of questions and photocopy it, but producing worthwhile and generalisable data from questionnaires needs careful planning and imaginative design 

The great popularity with questionnaires is they provide a “quick fix” for research methodology No single method has been so abused 1

Questionnaires offer an objective means of collecting information about people's knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviour2 3 Do our patients like our opening hours? What do teenagers think of a local antidrugs campaign and has it changed their attitudes? Why don't doctors use computers to their maximum potential? Questionnaires can be used as the sole research instrument (such as in a cross sectional survey) or within clinical trials or epidemiological studies

Randomised trials are subject to strict reporting criteria,4 but there is no comparable framework for questionnaire research Hence, despite a wealthof detailed guidance in the specialist literature,1–3> 5 w1-w8 elementary methodological errors are common1 Inappropriate instruments and lack of rigour inevitably lead to poor quality data, misleading conclusions, and woolly recommendationsw8 In this series we aim to present a practical guide that willenable research teams to do questionnaire research that is well designed, well managed, and non-discriminatory and which contributes to a generalisable evidence base We start with selecting and designing the questionnaire

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You and your co-researchers may have different assumptions about precisely what information you would like your study to generate A formal scoping exercise will ensure that you clarify goals and if necessary reach an agreed compromise It will also flag up potential practical problems—for example, how long the questionnaire will be and how it might be administered

As a rule of thumb, if you are not familiar enough with the research area or with a particular population subgroup to predict the range …

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/pdf/selecting-designing-and-developing-your-questionnaire-1vpl150yog.pdf

Selecting, designing, and developing your questionnaire

Cardiac rehabilitation. II: referral and participation

This article presents the results of a qualitative analysis of 80 articles, chapters, and practitioners' guides focused on collaboration and coalition functioning. The purpose of this review was to develop an integrative framework that captures the core competencies and processes needed within collaborative bodies to facilitate their success. The resulting framework for building collaborative capacity is presented. Four critical levels of collaborative capacity—member capacity, relational capacity, organizational capacity, and programmatic capacity—are described and strategies for building each type are provided. The implications of this model for practitioners and scholars are discussed.

http://tucsontortolitaecovillage.com/Building%20Collaborative%20Capacity.pdf

Building Collaborative Capacity in Community Coalitions: A Review and Integrative Framework

Child protection social work is acknowledged as a very stressful occupation with high turnover and poor retention of staff being a major concern. This paper highlights themes that emerged from findings of 65 articles that were included as part of a systematic literature review. The review focused on the evaluation of research findings, which considered individual and organizational factors associated with resilience or burnout in child protection social work staff. The results identified a range of individual and organizational themes for staff in child protection social work. Nine themes were identified in total. These are categorised under ‘Individual’ and ‘Organizational’ themes. Themes categorised as individual included, personal history of maltreatment, training and preparation for child welfare, coping, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. Those classified as organisational included workload, social support and supervision, organizational culture and climate, organizational and professional commitment and job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The range of factors are discussed with recommendations and areas for future research are highlighted.

/pdf/resilience-and-burnout-in-child-protection-social-work-4lmuauegk5.pdf

Resilience and Burnout in Child Protection Social Work: Individual and Organisational Themes from a Systematic Literature Review

Quality of life and compassion satisfaction/fatigue and burnout in child welfare workers: A study of the child welfare workers in community based care organizations in Central Florida.

Trafficking of children in Albania: patterns of recruitment and reintegration.

EnglishSexual trafficking affects many women globally, with eastern Europe and Albania as the major centers. Women's vulnerability is increased by poverty, patriarchal gender patterns and historica...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0020872806057086

Sexual trafficking of women Tragic proportions and attempted solutions in Albania

Based on Family Stress Management theory, we explored the contextual influence on acculturative stress and psychological distress. We included 639 Latinas from the National Latino Asian American Survey. We hypothesized that (a) impact of acculturative stress on psychological distress depends on specific contexts; (b) U.S. climate (i.e., perceived discrimination, happiness with U.S. move, years in the U.S.) impacts acculturative stress and psychological distress the most, and (c) contextual factors interact in impacting acculturative stress. Acculturative stress did not always lead to psychological distress. Perceived discrimination and difficulty visiting family abroad were positively associated with acculturative stress. Years in the U.S. and happiness with the U.S. move were negatively associated with acculturative stress. Years in the U.S. and perceived discrimination interacted in predicting acculturative stress. These results can aid formulation of effective interventions that target contexts likely to impact acculturative stress and psychological distress among Latinas.

Contextual Approach to Acculturative Stress Among Latina Immigrants in the U.S.

Many women seeking help from rural primary care providers are experiencing major or other types of depression. Women typically do not discuss their depression with their primary care providers although those who did reported finding it very helpful. Feeling understood and advice were particularly viewed as helpful. Major barriers to discussing depression with primary care providers include stigma about depression, lack of time, and perceptions that the primary care providers were not interested in these concerns. Depressed women tend to seek help for certain somatic problems, especially headaches, backaches, muscle pains, sleep problems, feeling tired, and abdominal pains.

Mary P. Van Hook

Papers

Quality of life and compassion satisfaction/fatigue and burnout in child welfare workers: A study of the child welfare workers in community based care organizations in Central Florida.

Trafficking of children in Albania: patterns of recruitment and reintegration.

Sexual trafficking of women Tragic proportions and attempted solutions in Albania

Contextual Approach to Acculturative Stress Among Latina Immigrants in the U.S.

Challenges to Identifying and Treating Women with Depression in Rural Primary Care