IHPME GSU Lunch and Learn

Umair Majid

The need for more holistic evidence to inform health policy-making has shone a spotlight on syntheses of qualitative research. The doubling of published qualitative evidence syntheses (QES) in the past decade reflects the push for health care policies to include patient preferences and experiences, an area that qualitative research is well-suited to investigate. However, there is a lack of clarity on the methods available to synthesize qualitative evidence, and their appropriateness, advantages, and disadvantages. Although some guides document various methodologies to synthesize qualitative evidence, there is confusion regarding when and how to use different methodologies. Originally developed by Sandelowski and Barroso in 2002, qualitative research integration or qualitative meta-synthesis is one approach to synthesize qualitative data that aims to produce a new, integrative interpretation that reflects the range of findings across multiple qualitative studies while retaining the original meaning of each study. This workshop will briefly review some of the methodologies researchers can use to conduct syntheses of qualitative evidence. The qualitative meta-synthesis approach will be used as an example to explore the processes, procedures, and steps QES, as well as differentiating this evidence synthesis approach from other common types of syntheses such as the systematic review, meta-analysis, and scoping reviews. I will emphasize the functionality and usability of qualitative meta-synthesis for health services research, and in particular, in the areas of health policy and health technology assessment. By using examples of QES’ I have conducted for government agencies and healthcare systems (e.g., HQO, CADTH), this presentation will provide attendees with the (some) knowledge and skills to appraise various QES products and conceptualize its relevance to their own research context.

Umair Majid completed his MSc in health research methodology at McMaster University where he investigated the quality appraisal process of qualitative research. Also at McMaster, he holds appointments as a Curriculum Designer, Program Developer, and Instructor where he is teaching and designing courses on epidemiology, the Canadian health care system, and pathophysiology. As a research consultant, Umair has diverse experiences, knowledge and expertise in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research, which he uses to provide qualitative evidence to agencies investigating technologies to include under the provincial or national funding mandate. Umair also has a MEd from Queen’s University where he examined innovative, effective ways to design and evaluate curricula. Currently, Umair is a PhD student in Health Services, Organization and Management Studies at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. For his dissertation, Umair is investigating how to improve the mechanisms of patient engagement in hospital planning and designing activities.

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Intended Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop, you should be able to:

• Differentiate between qualitative evidence syntheses from other methodologies to review and synthesize evidence
• Identify the objectives of the qualitative meta-synthesis approach
• Describe the qualitative evidence synthesis research process including literature searching, data extraction, data analysis, and reporting the findings
• Apply the processes of coding and qualitative data analysis to a collaborative synthesis exercise with peers

Schedule

• Didactic presentation of key concepts: 25 min
• Participatory Learning Activity: 20 min
• Debrief: 10 min
• Q/A: 5 min