Using focus group methods to develop multicultural cancer pain education materials

The Burden of Hypertension: Mental Representations of African American Women

“…Content analysis as described by Strauss and Corbin (1998) was used to search the data for meaningful categories. The goal of this method is the generation of themes and concepts that emerge to describe an experience (Glaser & Strauss, 1967;Speziale & Carpenter, 2002), and has been successfully implemented in focus group data analysis (Jenkins, Lapelle, Zapka, & Kurent, 2005;Lasch et al, 2000). Focus group sessions were coded by conceptualizing underlying patterns in the data related to perceptions of risk factors, health promotion, and disease prevention behaviors related to hypertension.…”

Practice recommendations for pain assessment by self-report with African American older adults

“…While African Americans were able to complete pain diaries, 61 there have been concerns that pain diaries may look like a test. 13 Researchers suggested that the pain diary be constructed to look more informal and non-threatening. 13 Health care providers can, however, educate and encourage older African American patients to use tools such as diaries or logs to record their pain levels, associated events, and treatments.…”

“…13 Researchers suggested that the pain diary be constructed to look more informal and non-threatening. 13 Health care providers can, however, educate and encourage older African American patients to use tools such as diaries or logs to record their pain levels, associated events, and treatments. These can then be shared with the health care provider to identify trends, evaluate the effectiveness of the current treatment plan, and determine whether or not adjustments are necessary.…”

“…Nonetheless, it is important to understand cultural beliefs and practices of pain because African Americans have expressed the need for health care professionals to tailor pain assessment according to their culture. 13 Therefore, it is imperative that health care providers are prepared to provide culturallyresponsive pain assessment, and this article provides evidencebased clinical practice recommendations to assist health care providers in performing a culturally-responsive pain assessment in cognitively intact, African American older adults.…”

Enhancing Research With Migrant Women Through Focus Groups

“…Researchers often recommend groups of 6 to 12 people, preferably from a relatively homogenous population, with facilitation occurring in the native language of the participants whenever possible (Lasch et al, 2000;Robinson, 1999;Twinn, 1998); smaller groups are generally more appropriate with emotionally charged topics (Morgan, 1996). Sharing similar characteristics (gender, age, position in society) may be a factor in fostering group cohesion among members.…”