PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “mixed methods”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

What do patients think? Results of a mixed methods pilot study assessing sciatica patients' interpretations of satisfaction and improvement.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the issues low back pain patients take into account when deciding their satisfaction with care, the importance placed on such satisfaction, or the factors they consider when assessing their overall improvement. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore these issues and to assess the feasibility of implementing qualitative research methods within a clinical trial. METHODS: Study participants were volunteers taking part in a randomized clinical pilot study comparing nonsurgical treatments for sciatica. Face-to-face interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: All 31 individuals who participated in the pilot study were interviewed. When asked which issues they considered when deciding their satisfaction with care, the most frequently identified themes were change in pain, personnel, and the treatment experience. When assessing their overall improvement, all participants considered whether their pain had changed. In response to the question asking participants which outcomes they considered to be most important, severity of pain and quality of life were most commonly cited. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that a "mixed methods" approach using qualitative research methods within a clinical trial is not only feasible but can provide interesting and useful information for trial interpretation and future study design. By providing insight to the multidimensional nature of patients' beliefs and perceptions, this technique may not only shape but also redefine the focus of patient-oriented research and health care for low back pain conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

A mixed method study to compare use and experience of hospital care and a nurse-led acute respiratory assessment service offering home care to people with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND: Over the past 10 years hospital at home schemes for the treatment of an acute exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease have proliferated throughout developed countries. For selected patients treatment at home is no less advantageous in terms of readmission rates and length of stay than treatment in hospital. Although care at home might seem to be a more desirable option than admission to hospital, little is known about care preferences and how people exercise service choice. OBJECTIVES: 1. to determine patients' recent use of and satisfaction with health care services during exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. 2. To determine and compare patients' and families' perceived future care preferences. 3. To complete an in-depth exploration of care experiences and preferences with a subset of respondents and their families. DESIGN: A mixed method design was used consisting of a postal survey and in-depth qualitative interviews with a subset of questionnaire respondents. SETTING: An outreach service provided by a large university hospital within Scotland, UK. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and four out-patients registered with the Acute Respiratory Assessment Service and who had experienced hospital inpatient care during the past year, and their families. A subset of respondents was invited to take part in qualitative interviews. RESULTS: The majority of respondents indicated a preference for the home care service, and this was positively associated with high coping skills. There was a strong relationship between personal and family preferences. There was no linear relationship between a clinical measure of severity of lung disease and service use or care preferences. Results from the qualitative interviews endorsed and explained these findings. CONCLUSIONS: A range of factors combined to influence service use at a particular point in time, implying a need for increased self-management support from nurses and increased service provision.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2002

Theory building through mixed-method evaluation of a dementia special care unit.

The purpose of this article is to describe how the use of quantitative (quasi-experimental) and qualitative (grounded-theory) methods in an evaluation of new dementia special care units led to a better understanding of how the nursing home environment affects residents with dementia, which in turn helped to advance theory development in person-environment interaction. The environmental intervention involved changes in social density (size of resident group), spatial density (space per person), and privacy. A second aim of the article is to illustrate that applied research cannot be perfectly preplanned; rather, it is a process that involves ongoing decisions and management of unexpected events. We describe the sequence of key methodological decisions made during the planning, implementation, and integration phases of the study, which was conducted over a 21-month period. Results of this study highlight the benefits of mixed-method designs for evaluation research.

Canada↗
PubMed2006

An exploratory mixed methods study of the acceptability and effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for patients with active depression and anxiety in primary care.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an 8-week course developed for patients with relapsing depression that integrates mindfulness meditation practices and cognitive theory. Previous studies have demonstrated that non-depressed participants with a history of relapsing depression are protected from relapse by participating in the course. This exploratory study examined the acceptability and effectiveness of MBCT for patients in primary care with active symptoms of depression and anxiety METHODS: 13 patients with recurrent depression or recurrent depression and anxiety were recruited to take part in the study. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted three months after completing the MBCT programme. A framework approach was used to analyse the data. Beck depression inventories (BDI-II) and Beck anxiety inventories (BAI) provided quantitative data and were administered before and three months after the intervention. RESULTS: The qualitative data indicated that mindfulness training was both acceptable and beneficial to the majority of patients. For many of the participants, being in a group was an important normalising and validating experience. However most of the group believed the course was too short and thought that some form of follow up was essential. More than half the patients continued to apply mindfulness techniques three months after the course had ended. A minority of patients continued to experience significant levels of psychological distress, particularly anxiety. Statistically significant reductions in mean depression and anxiety scores were observed; the mean pre-course depression score was 35.7 and post-course score was 17.8 (p = 0.001). A similar reduction was noted for anxiety with a mean pre-course anxiety score of 32.0 and mean post course score of 20.5 (p = 0.039). Overall 8/11 (72%) patients showed improvements in BDI and 7/11 (63%) patients showed improvements in BAI. In general the results of the qualitative analysis agreed well with the quantitative changes in depression and anxiety reported. CONCLUSION: The results of this exploratory mixed methods study suggest that mindfulness based cognitive therapy may have a role to play in treating active depression and anxiety in primary care.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Changes in the contraceptive method mix during fertility decline: Latin America and the Caribbean].

"This paper reviews survey-based data regarding contraceptive prevalence and methods employed in Latin America and the Caribbean, with an emphasis on changes in the mix of methods over time. The most striking recent trend is the rise in use of female sterilization.... By contrast, use of male sterilization remains negligible in most countries. The oral contraceptive pill is by far the most popular of the temporary methods, though its prevalence has more often declined than increased in recent years. Together female sterilization and the pill make up around [two-thirds] of contraceptive practice in Latin America and the Caribbean." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

Americas↗
PubMed2005

Effect of mixing methods on mechanical properties of alginate impression materials.

BACKGROUND: A commercial mechanical mixer is available to make the mixing of alginate more convenient and more consistent for the practitioner; however, there is very little information on the mechanical properties of alginate mixed with this device as compared with hand mixing. PURPOSE: To compare the mechanical properties of alginate impression materials mixed with a mechanical mixer (Alginator II, Cadco) and hand mixing. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three alginate impression materials (Identic, Jeltrate, and Kromopan) were tested. Strain in compression, elastic recovery, and compressive strength were measured according to ANSI/ADA specification no. 18-1992; tear energy was measured using a pants tear test. Five specimens were prepared for each group with 12 groups for the mechanical mixer and 12 groups for hand mixing, for a total of 120 specimens. A two-way analysis of variance and Fisher's PLSD test at the 0.05 level of significance were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences in properties among the materials, but mixing technique had no statistically significant effect on strain in compression and tear energy. CONCLUSION: The mechanical mixer improved elastic recovery and compressive strength of the alginate impression materials tested and had no effect on strain in compression and tear energy. A mechanical mixer facilitates the mixing of alginate impression materials and improves some mechanical properties.

Alginates↗
PubMed2026

Ketamine assisted psychotherapy to reduce chronic neuropathic pain: A mixed-methods randomized pilot trial.

BACKGROUND: Intravenous ketamine can provide short-term analgesia in chronic neuropathic pain but benefits often wane after treatment. We conducted a randomized pilot trial to assess the feasibility of combining ketamine infusions with psychotherapy to inform future efficacy trials. METHODS: In this single-center, randomized, outcome-assessor-blinded pilot trial at a Canadian tertiary pain clinic, adults with moderate-to-severe chronic neuropathic pain were randomly assigned in 1:1:1 ratio to the ketamine, psychotherapy, or combined ketamine plus psychotherapy arm. Ketamine was delivered as three intravenous infusions over 16 weeks; psychotherapy consisted of 16 weekly cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based meditation sessions. The primary outcome was feasibility, assessed using prespecified progression criteria. Exploratory outcomes included changes in pain interference (PROMIS 6a T-score), pain intensity, mood, and qualitative interview findings at week 20 (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05639322). FINDINGS: Between October 23, 2023, and March 31, 2025, 30 participants were randomized, and 26 (87%) completed 20-week follow-up. Most feasibility criteria, including consent, retention, data completeness, and absence of study-related serious adverse events, were met; adherence targets were partially met. Exploratory pain outcomes showed numerical improvement across groups, with clinically meaningful reductions observed for pain interference and pain intensity. Sixty-four adverse events were recorded, mostly mild and in ketamine-containing groups; no serious study-related adverse events occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Combined ketamine and psychotherapy was feasible and acceptably safe in this pilot trial, supporting evaluation in a larger efficacy-powered study. FUNDING: The study was funded by the St. Michael's Hospital Innovation Fund, The Canadian Pain Society Early Investigator Award and the Physician Services Incorporation Early Career Researcher Award.

Humans↗
PubMed1998

A continuous-flow capillary mixing method to monitor reactions on the microsecond time scale.

A continuous-flow capillary mixing apparatus, based on the original design of Regenfuss et al. (Regenfuss, P., R. M. Clegg, M. J. Fulwyler, F. J. Barrantes, and T. M. Jovin. 1985. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 56:283-290), has been developed with significant advances in mixer design, detection method and data analysis. To overcome the problems associated with the free-flowing jet used for observation in the original design (instability, optical artifacts due to scattering, poor definition of the geometry), the solution emerging from the capillary is injected directly into a flow-cell joined to the tip of the outer capillary via a ground-glass joint. The reaction kinetics are followed by measuring fluorescence versus distance downstream from the mixer, using an Hg(Xe) arc lamp for excitation and a digital camera with a UV-sensitized CCD detector for detection. Test reactions involving fluorescent dyes indicate that mixing is completed within 15 micros of its initiation and that the dead time of the measurement is 45 +/- 5 micros, which represents a >30-fold improvement in time resolution over conventional stopped-flow instruments. The high sensitivity and linearity of the CCD camera have been instrumental in obtaining artifact-free kinetic data over the time window from approximately 45 micros to a few milliseconds with signal-to-noise levels comparable to those of conventional methods. The scope of the method is discussed and illustrated with an example of a protein folding reaction.

Biophysics↗
PubMed2004

Rapid mixing methods for exploring the kinetics of protein folding.

Information on the time-dependence of molecular species is critical for elucidating reaction mechanisms in chemistry and biology. Rapid flow experiments involving turbulent mixing of two or more solutions continue to be the main source of kinetic information on protein folding and other biochemical processes, such as ligand binding and enzymatic reactions. Recent advances in mixer design and detection methods have opened a new window for exploring conformational changes in proteins on the microsecond time scale. These developments have been especially important for exploring early stages of protein folding.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effect of powder-liquid ratio and the mixing method on the surface hardness of phosphate-bonded investment materials.

In this experimental study the surface-hardness changes of three phosphate-bonded investments were observed in relation to: a) the ratio of liquid-powder, b) the way of the mixing, in 3 hours and 24 hours after mixing. The Vickers hardness test was used for testing the surface hardness of the specimens (ISOMA SA, Bienne, Swiss, hardness testing apparatus). This study indicated that the surface hardness of the specimens increased after mechanical mixing, and also that it was higher in 24 hours than in 3 hours. Also, as more water was included in the mixing liquid, as lower became the surface hardness of the materials. Finally, it was observed that one material appeared to have the greatest fluctuations of surface hardness: Maruvest MI.

Dental Casting Investment↗
PubMed2005

An exploratory mixed-methods study of Scottish midwives' understandings and perceptions of clinical near misses in maternity care.

OBJECTIVE: adverse outcomes and near misses are believed to share many characteristics in terms of clinical situations and care management problems. Little is documented concerning what prevents adverse outcomes from happening once the 'accident trajectory' begins. This two-stage pilot study set out to investigate midwives' understandings and recollections of clinical near misses. DESIGN: anonymous self-completion questionnaire and follow-up group interviews. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: clinically based midwives working in four maternity units in Scotland (questionnaire [n = 34]; interviews [n = 26]). FINDINGS: despite a low response rate to the questionnaire, the cited examples seem to confirm that near misses and adverse outcomes follow essentially similar routes until the former are halted by a saving intervention. Dangerous situations are created by heavy workloads, and are aggravated by sub-optimal skill-mix, poor communication and individuals making mistakes or not following accepted procedures. Overwhelmingly, what prevents this situation from resulting in an adverse outcome is an intervention by another practitioner--often reported to be by chance and not design. In the interviews, these situations were discussed with reference to unit culture, the causes of errors and near misses, helping to prevent mistakes, the consequences of near misses and staff confiding in one another. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: this limited study reaffirms the view that clinical near misses have the same origins as actual poor outcomes. Practitioners need to be able to discuss clinical and operational matters openly with colleagues. Although the 'blame culture' was reported to be less prevalent when things go wrong, not all midwives feel comfortable about discussing incidents or near misses. This exploratory study makes no claim to encapsulate this complex and sensitive subject. Further detailed research into the nature and extent of near misses is required. Identifying what prevents a poor outcome from happening may be a valuable clinical resource.

Adult↗
PubMed2007

Using mixed methods to evaluate the use of a caregiver strain measure to assess outcomes of a caregiver support program for caregivers of older adults.

PURPOSE: Many assessment tools have been developed for evaluating caregiving programs, but the majority are too cumbersome for ongoing use. This study reports on a brief assessment tool used to monitor strain among family members caring for an impaired elder. DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants were enrolled in the SeniorCare program, a program funded by the Administration on Aging to provide care to family caregivers. The Caregiver Risk Screen (CRS) is a 12-item measure of strain, initially developed as part of an in-home assessment procedure. Its utility for use in practice settings over time was assessed using both quantitative and qualitative methodology. RESULTS: Chronbach alpha levels for the CRS were 0.85 at intake and 0.84 at first follow-up. At the first follow-up, the overall index score and five of the 12 items showed statistically significant lessened strain. In subsequent follow-up evaluations, the average improvements were maintained but there was no additional decrease in strain. Individual variations in changes over time were identified by combining quantitative and qualitative information. Themes that emerged in qualitative data served to modify the measure for future use. IMPLICATIONS: The brief Caregiver Risk Screen tool appears to be a reliable and valid tool for use in practice settings. It is acceptable to clients and professional staff. Modifications have been made that may further enhance the suitability of this measure for other settings.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2026

Development of an age specific EORTC questionnaire to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children with cancer aged 8-14 years - a mixed-methods content elicitation phase I & II EORTC QLG study.

BACKGROUND: Experiencing cancer can be physically and psychosocially challenging in the short- and long-term. Integrating Patient-Reported Outcome Measurements (PROMs) to capture these challenges can support patient-centered care and may reduce morbidity and mortality. However, age-appropriate tools remain scarce for children and adolescents. We report on the development phases I/II of the EORTC QLQ-CHI questionnaire tailored for children 8-14 years. METHODS: Following the EORTC QLG module development guidelines, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted in children aged 8-14 years undergoing active cancer treatment, parents and healthcare professionals (HCPs). Participants rated the relevance of issues identified in a previous systematic review (Phase Ia) and provided preferences on response format and recall period (Phase Ib). During expert round tables, key issues were converted into items (Phase II). RESULTS: Interviews were completed with 47 children, 45 parents, and 22 HCPs from six countries. Among all children (mean age=10.8&#x202f;&#xb1;&#x202f;1.9 years; 57.4% female), 55.3% had haematological cancers. Of the initially identified issues, 57 were identified as key issues by comparing children's, parents' and HCPs feedback. Children preferred four response options (70.0%) and a shorter recall period (43.3%). Through expert round tables (Phase II), items were assigned to a more symptom-oriented core scale and an additional scale for psychosocial concerns. The provisional questionnaire consists of 50 items. CONCLUSION: This study represents the first step in developing the EORTC QLQ-CHI (8-14 years). Next steps include pilot testing, validation (Phase III and IV), co-development of a corresponding measure for children <&#x202f;8 years and an observer-rating version.

Humans↗
PubMed2006

"Smart boys" and "sweet girls"--sex education needs in Thai teenagers: a mixed-method study.

BACKGROUND: In Thailand, rapid increases in economic prosperity have been accompanied by erosion of traditional cultural and religious values and by negative effects on sexual health of young people. We investigated knowledge, attitudes, norms, and values of teenagers, parents, teachers, and policymakers in relation to sex and sex education in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with a view to informing sex education policy. METHODS: We selected six secondary schools for maximum variation in socioeconomic background, religious background, and location. Methods were: narrative interviews with key stakeholders, and analysis of key policy documents; questionnaire survey of 2301 teenagers; 20 focus groups of teenagers; questionnaire survey of 351 parents; and two focus groups of parents. Qualitative and quantitative data were assessed separately with thematic and statistical analysis, respectively, then combined. FINDINGS: We noted five important influences on Thai teenagers' sexual attitudes and behaviour: ambiguous social roles leading to confused identity; heightened sexual awareness and curiosity; key gaps in knowledge and life skills; limited parental input; and impulsivity and risk-taking. Male teenagers aspire to be "smart boys", whose status depends on stories of sexual performance and conquests. Female teenagers, traditionally constrained and protected as "sweet girls", are managing a new concept of dating without their parents' support, and with few life skills to enable them to manage their desires or negotiate in potentially coercive situations. School-based sex education is biologically focused and inconsistently delivered. INTERPRETATION: Results of this large exploratory study suggest five approaches that could be developed to improve sex education: targeted training and support for teachers; peer-led sex education by teenagers; story-based scenarios to promote applied learning; local development of educational materials; and use of trained sexual health professionals to address learning needs of pupils, teachers, and parents.

Adolescent↗