Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
Having had many consultations with all the participants in this study
on several occasions throughout their treatment, a purposive
sample of ten patients was selected. As one of the secondary
objectives of this study was to get a greater understanding of the
patients’ experience of completing DDCs, interviewing patients in
the control group was not considered. Therefore, a sample was
chosen from the main intervention group who had completed DDCs
and included two male patients, aged 68 and 70, and eight female
patients, aged between 60 and 74. Six patients had completed
treatment for colorectal cancer (two male and four female) and four
had completed treatment for breast cancer (See table 1). These
patients were chosen as they represented both genders as well as
both cancer sites and would give a range of opinions that would
provide rich data. Although five males were approached to take part
in the interviews, only two of them agreed. The other three were
happy to be interviewed but did not want to be taped; therefore
they were excluded from the interviews. All patients were
interviewed for approximately thirty minutes and each interview
was taped.
Table 1 - Number of patients interviewed about their Diary
Cards:
10 patients total Male Female
Colorectal cancer 2 4
Breast cancer 0 4
Data collection
Having selected a purposive sample of patients to be interviewed,
they were approached and invited to take part in a semi-structured
interview. Following an explanation of the procedure, written
consent was obtained from those willing to take part. The DDCs
were used as the basis for questions and prompts but there was
flexibility in terms of the order of the topics being considered during
the interviews. This allowed the participants to develop ideas and
speak more widely on the issues raised in the DDCs. Notes were
also taken during the interview even though it was taped. This
allowed comparison of the notes with the transcripts. It was also a
useful safe proof mechanism in case of a taping problem. The
interviews lasted approximately thirty minutes and were taped so
that analysis of the whole interview could be achieved.
Data analysis
The data was transcribed on to A4 sheets in a way that allowed
notes and comments to be added on the right hand margin. Other
data such as field notes and comments from the diary cards was
also transcribed onto A4 sheets. Having transcribed the audiorecording
and having made some checks on the validity of the data
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