Using Meta-Ethnography to Synthesize Relevant Studies: Capturing the Bigger Picture in Dementia With Challenging Behavior Within Families (original) (raw)

In understanding the range and depth of people's experiences, it is important to include the wide range of approaches which capture the richness within a given knowledge base. However, systematic reviews using quantitative data alone risk missing findings that can contribute to a better understanding of a research question. In response, meta-ethnography has emerged as a potentially useful method to synthesize and integrate both qualitative and quantitative data from different perspectives using qualitative methodology. In this case study, we describe how we have used meta-ethnography to better understand how families experience dementia. We address a particular issue of selecting the highest quality evidence across a range of epistemologies. Learning Outcomes By the end of this case, students should be able to Understand how to synthesize quantitative and qualitative data using meta-ethnography; Understand the merits and problems of including too many studies in the review, and only including those which reach a certain quality threshold; Understand how including poor-quality studies might impact meta-ethnographical findings via the use of a sensitivity analysis. Project Overview and Context This case study describes an in-depth approach to investigating the wide-ranging experiences and needs of family carers who support people with dementia and challenging behavior, in order to develop relevant psychosocial interventions for these families. Although methods are well established for the systematic searching of research literature, for example, the PRISMA guidelines (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, Altman, & Prisma Group, 2009), these are less well established for the systematic synthesis of findings, which include qualitative analyses. As mixed-methods research has expanded, there is a need to develop methodologies for the synthesis of both qualitative and quantitative data within the same review. For example, in the field of dementia care, there is a range of behavioral changes that can occur in the person (known as Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia, or BPSD), and some of these are distressing for family carers. We wanted to understand "what" behaviors were experienced as challenging and "why" these were distressing and difficult to manage for family carers. Through an initial meta-analysis of quantitative studies, we were able to establish an answer to the "what" question-that is, what behaviors do families find SAGE Research Methods Cases Part 2 SAGE