Focus Groups in Mental Health Research: Enhancing the Validity of User and Provider Questionnaires
- 1 September 1996
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Journal of Social Psychiatry
- Vol. 42 (3), 193-206
- https://doi.org/10.1177/002076409604200303
Abstract
Most mental health researchers rely upon quantitative methods of data collection. Whilst such methods are commonly seen as reliable, qualitative methods are often seen as more valid. Despite the value of qualitative methods of data collection, however, many researchers denigrate their use. Qualitative research is often viewed as lacking in scientific rigour. This paper explores the use of the focus group as a qualitative instrument to enhance the validity of existing questionnaires for mental health service users and providers. Between July and August 1995 four focus groups were conducted in Exeter and Taunton among service users (with severe or long-term mental health problems) and providers (community psychiatric nurses, social workers and occupational therapists). It is demonstrated that focus groups enhance the validity of existing questionnaires by highlighting those concerns held by users and providers that would otherwise have been neglected.Keywords
This publication has 28 references indexed in Scilit:
- Qualitative Research: Reaching the parts other methods cannot reach: an introduction to qualitative methods in health and health services researchBMJ, 1995
- Formative evaluation for planning a nutrition intervention: Results from focus groupsJournal of Nutrition Education, 1995
- Focus Groups: a Method for Developing Consensus Guidelines in General PracticeFamily Practice, 1994
- Capturing the Group Effect in Focus Groups: A Special Concern in AnalysisQualitative Health Research, 1994
- The methodology of Focus Groups: the importance of interaction between research participantsSociology of Health & Illness, 1994
- Using Focus Groups to Develop Health Surveys: An Example from Research on Social Relationships and AIDS-Preventive BehaviorHealth Education Quarterly, 1993
- Qualitative and quantitative approaches to needs assessment in mental health: Creating a common currencyJournal of Mental Health, 1993
- Toward Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: An IntroductionHealth Education Quarterly, 1992
- Making better use of qualitative research: illustrations from medical education researchHealth Education Journal, 1991
- Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey.Journal of Applied Psychology, 1975