Transforming Healthcare with Qualitative Research

Drawing on the knowledge and experiences of world-renowned scientists and healthcare professionals, this important book brings together academic, medical and health systems accounts of the impact of applying qualitative research methods to transform healthcare behaviours, systems and services. It demonstrates the translation of tried-and-tested and new interventions into high-quality care delivery, improved patient pathways, and enhanced systems management. It melds social theory, health systems analysis and research methods to address real-life healthcare issues in a rich and realistic fashion. The systems and services examined include those affecting patient care and patient and professional wellbeing, and the roles and responsibilities of people providing and receiving care. Some chapters delve deeply into the human psyche, examining the very private face of health and illness. Others concentrate on public health and how people's needs can be met through health promotion and new investments. From real-time case studies to narratives on illness to theories of change, there is something here for everybody. Transforming health systems needs ingenuity - and the drive of individuals, the staying power of systems and above all the involvement of patients. Full of novel ideas and innovative solutions from around the world, all underpinned by qualitative methods and methodologies, this book is a key contribution for advanced students, practitioners and academics interested in health services research, research methods and the sociology of health and illness.

Frances Rapport is Professor of Health Implementation Science at Macquarie University's Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science and holds an Honorary Chair as Professor of Qualitative Health Research at Swansea University's Medical School, UK. She currently leads a team of Implementation Scientists examining new models that can successfully underpin the translation of research outcomes into practical solutions to improve healthcare service delivery. Jeffrey Braithwaite is the Founding Director of the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Director of the Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science; and Professor of Health Systems Research, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He is President Elect of the International Society for Quality in Health Care and a member of multiple groups of the World Health Organisation and the OECD as well as holding visiting professorships and international senior fellowships in six other Universities and think tanks in Europe and Japan.

Part 1 Ideas 1.Introduction:Why this book 2.Qualitative Evidence Synthesis and Conceptual Development 3.The Life-Project of personal Wellbeing: Modern Healthcare and the Individuality of Health 4.Socio-Narratology and the Clinical Encounter Between human Beings 5.Interrupted Body Projects and the Narrative Reconstruction of Self 6.The Fourth Research Paradigm: Activating Researchers for Real World Need Part 2 Systems 7.Slack Resources in Healthcare Systems: Waste or Reslilance? 8.Using Qualitative Methods to Understand Resiliance in Complex Systems 10.Narrativising Cancer Patients' Longitudinal Experiences of Care: Qualitative Inquiry into Lived and Online Melanoma Stories 11.Look the Other Way: Patient-Centred Care Begisn with Care for Our Physicians 12.Resilient Healthcare in Refractory Epilepsy: Illuminating Successful People-Centred Care Part 3 Solutions 13.Sensemaking as a Strategy for Managing Uncertainty: Change and Surprise in Hospital Settings 14.Simulation to Solve Health System Problems 15.Cross-Boundary Teaming to Establish Resiliance Among Isolated 'Silos' 16."What on Earth is Going on and What Should I Do Now?" Sensemaking as a Qualitative Process 17.Deep Inside the Genomics Revoltion: On The Frontlines of Care 18.Much More Than Old Wine in New Bottles: Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) for healthcare improvement 19.Conclusion: On progress, directions and signposts to a transformed healthcare system