Qualitative Research Report in Communication
Permalink for the Article
https://www.hindawi.com/archive/2015/653624/abs/
APA Citation
Sanders, C., & Carter, B. (2015). A qualitative study of communication between young women with disorders of sex development and health professionals. Advances in Nursing, 2015.
The rationale for the research
Sex development disorders are permanent ailments that influence a person physically, emotionally, and mentally, hence affecting their psychosexual growth. Communication in healthcare is essential for both medical practitioners and the patients; it directly influences engagement and results. Communication in the context of disorders of sex development can be challenging due to the sensitivity of the topic. Medics and parents should identify best methods on how and when to reveal information about the condition and its management with the patients as they grow. The research focused on young women with this disorder and analyzed their encounters with healthcare personnel to comprehend the type of communication between them. The central hypothesis for the study is that proper communiqué between medics and young persons and their guardian results in a better comprehension of the information shared by both parties. The rationale for the study was on point; all young ladies, including those with DSD, have lots of questions about their sexuality, during the adolescence stage. Thus, information-sharing is vital.
Methodology
Partakers were taken from three different places across the United Kingdom. At least three participants aged between twelve and twenty-one were recruited from each site. All participants had DSD conditions. Data was gathered through direct interviews or a mail diary filled by the young woman, supported by an adult. Both methods analyzed how the young ladies communicated with medics, their good and bad encounters, and their driving force for pursuing expert guidance. All data, from interview transcripts and diaries, were analyzed using the interpretive phenomenological approach (IPA). The data analysis process involved evaluating the subjective experiences of interactions with medics how the participants felt about them. Moreover, the analysis assessed data within the context of how the young ladies understood the information communicated to them and its influence on themselves and others. The methodology was efficient because the researchers used the interpretive phenomenological analysis, which gives a detailed analysis of an individual’s experiences and evaluates how people view those experiences. Moreover, it generates reliable experiences of communication techniques.
Results and conclusions
The results indicate that the participants believe that healthcare practitioners have a responsibility to share information and support them in managing it. They were eager to get more information about their condition, but they complained that their parents dominated conversations with the doctors and were only allowed limited chances to participate. The study showed that healthcare providers expect parents to be knowledgeable and share information with their children. However, according to the participants, most parent-led conversations were opportunistic and very confusing as the parents had little knowledge on the topic. Most participants believed that health professionals were better placed to shape their comprehension since they could simplify some techniques that could be beneficial when their parents failed to reveal information. All participants admitted that their parents never discussed their feelings or the possibility of the probability of seeking mental care as a result of their condition. They agreed that such support would have been beneficial, especially after realizing what their health meant. The findings concur with the researchers’ conclusions. They advise that healthcare providers should be keen on patient’s reactions to discussions on private matters. They must find creative ways of sharing critical information. Moreover, healthcare professionals and parents should build collaborations with young women to develop services that meet their needs.
Ethics
The study primarily meets the ethical standards needed for such researches. It observed the principle of autonomy. The researchers informed the participants about the research and allowed them to decide whether or not to participate in it freely. Also, participants aged below sixteen years, provided written consent before their children were allowed to participate. Nonetheless, one cannot tell whether the study breached confidentiality by exposing the names of some of the participants as it does not indicate whether or not they consented to this action.