Role of Qualitative Research in Dental Public Health - Essay Example

Name Class Unit Introduction Over the years, qualitative research has been gaining popularity in health research. This is a type of research which allows use of descriptive and interpretive methods during the study of human or social events. The aim of qualitative research is to determine the number of people who hold a particular view (Burnard, Gill, Stewart, Treasure & Chadwick, 2008). This involves determining the popular opinion. This form of research helps the researchers to get the meaning of an occurrence or event from the participants view. It involves viewpoints and accounts of what is experienced and understood by people. This type of research has been highly utilised in the development of individualised and realistic patient care. It helps in gaining a deeper understanding of the human experiences and interpretations of illness, health services and health. In dentistry, use of qualitative research has not been common as compared to quantitive research (Bower & Scambler, 2007). This essay discusses the role of qualitative research in dental public health. The essay looks at the problems in using this type of methodology and its contribution to evidence based practice. The essay also analyses some examples of qualitative research successfully used in dental public health. Role of qualitative research in dental public health In public health, there are many types of research used. The most common type of research used in public health is quantitive approach. This is form of research where numerical representation and observation manipulation is used. This type of research views the world as reality that can be determined objectively (Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). The current issues in dentistry are based on a patient’s wishes and role of the dentists. This is a role which raises questions which cannot be addressed by quantitive research only. Qualitative research has concern for qualitative phenomena and involves subjective assessment of opinions, behaviours and attitudes (Bower & Scambler, 2007). This is a form of research which starts with a clearly defined problem and comes up with a strategy to gather data from people. In qualitative research, researchers acts as tool for research. This provides a level of research with details and depth that cannot be attained by other forms of research (Cohen & Crabtree, 2008). This makes qualitative research the best form to use in public dental health. Use of qualitative research in dental health has the capability to broaden the evidence base. This is due to fact that it allows the researchers to answer questions which are difficult to answer through other methods (Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). Through use of qualitative research in public dental health, it becomes possible to use interpretive and descriptive methods to study human and social events (Cohen & Crabtree, 2008). This is a form of research which the researchers deal with what, how of an occurrence and not the size or quantity. This makes it possible to gain the meaning in the public dental health. Through qualitative research, the researcher is able to gain a deep insight into the people experiences and thought. This helps a lot in determining the behaviour of patients (Bower & Scambler, 2007). Qualitative research does not involve generalisations and helps the researchers gain an insight based on the participants views. This ensures that generalisation is eliminated in the research process (Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). This makes it possible to gain a deep understanding of participant experiences and interpretations of dental health. The public notion of health and illness is well understood through this form of research. Use of qualitative research has been a great contribution to culturally specific data which is contextually rich. This is data which can help in critical design of important solutions to public health dental issues especially in the developing countries (Cohen & Crabtree, 2008). In public dental health research, qualitative methods are highly flexible. They are capable of allowing adaptation and spontaneity between the researcher and participant. This is due to fact that it is possible to ask an open ended questions which are tailored for different participants. This makes the system to be more flexible than a yes or no answer (Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). When conducting research using this method, the relationship between the participant and researcher is less formal. The participants can respond more elaborately and in details giving more information on public dental health (Bower & Scambler, 2007). When using this method for public dental health research, use of open ended questions gives the participants an opportunity to respond in their own words. This makes it possible to evoke responses which are; meaningful, unanticipated, rich and explanatory. The researcher can probe the participants based on their answers (Ulin, Robinson & Tolley, 2012). This makes it possible to gain elaborated responses from the participant’s making the research more deep. Use of qualitative research in public dental health helps in using small focused sample rather than using large random samples. Use of qualitative research helps in gaining better understanding of a complex situation. Gaining a rich understanding of a dental health issues makes use of qualitative research necessary. Use of qualitative research in public dental health research helps a lot in determining the situation of dental health. This is through identifying the causes of patients’ satisfaction and barriers to receiving proper dental care. The results from the research acts as an important step in determining the measures required in addressing the current challenges (Cohen & Crabtree, 2008). In order to gain insight and motivate people to have regular dental check-ups, it is important to know their attitudes in dental care. Qualitative studies helps a lot in gaining understanding in this topic. Qualitative studies helps in gaining understanding of people perceptions and experience. This is through adopting an in-depth approach when investigating behaviours and motivations which underlies people’s actions (Ulin, Robinson & Tolley, 2012). Use of qualitative research has been very important when advancing policy development or implementation. Gaining population perspectives and fear in dental visits helps a lot in determining the barriers and facilities in dental health use. This is very useful in determining the discrepancies in people attitude on dental health and also in coming up with better policies to enhance dental care (Cohen & Crabtree, 2008). Qualitative research has been gaining a lot of acceptance in public health. Qualitative research has been able to contribute in a great way to public health internationally (Ulin, Robinson & Tolley, 2012). It has made it possible to unpack the social cultural determinant of public dental health. This approach is very important in determining the disease causation and determines how human agent interacts with agent. It also helps in coming up with different ways and reasons to support (Bower & Scambler, 2007). Problems in using this type of methodology and its contribution to evidence based practice Despite its popularity in the public dental health research, there have been problems with ways in which researchers are perceived by the interviewees (Jack, 2006). The existing differences in class race and gender have a great impact on the way in which interviewees responds to the interviews (Green & Ruff, 2005). This has been a major area that the researcher needs to address. There are problems in gaining the best out of an interviewee when they feel unsafe (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). One of the major contributions of qualitative research to evidence based practice is generating of hypothesis. When carrying out qualitative research, the hypothesis can be used in future research. Also the development of instruments and their validation has been used for long in qualitative research. The qualitative information collected in the topic can be translated into a quantifiable instrument. Qualitative research has been very useful in validating the quantitive instruments (Kuper, Reeves & Levinson, 2008). Qualitative research has been able to provide a lot of context which can be used it evaluate evidence based practice used in nursing (Grypdonck, 2006). When utilising evidence based practice, evaluation is needed. Evaluation is done when carrying out change practice. Evidence based practice has been very useful when designing based on qualitative data (Pope et al., 2006). Use of qualitative data helps a lot in providing a more deep insight. The researcher has a responsibility to guide the reader through the research. Qualitative research has been rejected by some researchers due to lack of clarity and rigour in the way in which they are presented. This has been one of the major problems in using qualitative research in evidence based practice (Ulin, Robinson & Tolley, 2012). The value of qualitative data is the fact that it provides important information related to health practices and their interventions. The key issue in qualitative research is the ability to access credibility and trustworthiness (Stewart, Gill, Chadwick & Treasure, 2008). Use of qualitative research on public dental health has the capability to provide rich and rigorous base of people experience, attitudes and beliefs. This can be used on the subsequent explanatory research. Use of qualitative research in illuminating change process is also very useful in evidence based care. This result from qualitative research sheds light on the decision making process and helps in exploring illness behaviour (Grypdonck, 2006). Use of qualitative research can also be used in evidence based research to infer cause effect relationship. This helps in throwing light to the statistical occurrence. Qualitative methods have been very important tools in identifying what exists in health care. This generates useful concepts and right definitions. It is theoretically possible to use qualitative methods in ensuring there is validity in matters of incidence (Richards & Schwartz, 2002). An evidence based dental health care relies on research and acts on a range of questions in an on-going process (Stewart, Gill, Chadwick & Treasure, 2008). Identifying patients dental concerns using qualitative study can lead to an intervention to address them. This is through defining the objectives, validating the outcomes, coming up with interventions and evaluating services. Thus, qualitative research has a great contribution to evidence based practice. Due to fact that evidence based practice has been a growing area in nursing, use of qualitative research makes the goals to provide better health visible within the health care (Ulin, Robinson & Tolley, 2012). Researchers and clinicians can make more contributions to qualitative research and utilise it in evidence based practice (Hammell, 2001). This is through gaining the importance of it and using it wherever possible. The robust experimental design used in qualitative research helps a lot in gaining evidence (Seale, Gobo, Gubrium & Silverman, 2004). This helps a lot in coming up with patient cantered and holistic approach to dental health care (Black, 2001). In qualitative research, data is collected from participants on their own environment. This takes into account their social and cultural context (Holloway, 2005). This also applies in the public dental health care. This is due to fact that the nursing professionals must account for the situation which the individual is living in before coming up with treatment methods and interventions (Grypdonck, 2006). There is an affinity between the nursing and the tenets of qualitative research. Qualitative research has been a very important part of developing theory in evidence based care (Ulin, Robinson & Tolley, 2012). Through use of qualitative research it becomes possible to come up with appropriate variables to be used (Ritchie, 1999). The use of qualitative research in pilot projects has been on wide spread in the health care settings. Another insight from qualitative research has been its use in shaping factors that determines clinical behaviour. For example, quantitive research can be used in evidence based setting to determine why the patients or clinicians act in a given way (Hammell, 2001). The application of evidence for practice requires appropriate research and this takes time and energy. The dental care professional have a responsibility to ensure that all the care they provide is based on sound research methodologies (Rycroft‐Malone et al., 2004). The use of qualitative research in evidence based setting provides adequate knowledge required for the nursing care to clients. It is important to look at evidence based care as care that uses scientific knowledge with clinical expertise. This is integration of the best possible research and evidence in taking care for the patient (Ritchie, 1999). Over years, a lot of pressure has been put on the clinicians to put research in their practices. With emergence of evidence based practice and use of qualitative research, this has been possible. The move leads to reduced health care costs, improved patient satisfaction (Stapleton, Kirkham & Thomas, 2002). The main obstacles which lies with evidence based practice are utilisation of research. Despite this, dental healthcare and research are inseparable. This is due to fact that dental health care is a practice that generates research questions which can be addressed through qualitative research. The questions posed by the research leads to a lot of questions which has to be explored. It is therefore important to note that qualitative research has a role to play in evidence based care. When properly implemented, evidence based dental care can benefit a lot from the practice (Rousseau et al., 2003). Examples of successful qualitative research in dental public health There has been several successful qualitative dental public health research carried out. An example is the qualitative study done on the limited access to permit dental hygienists in Oregon. The study was carried out to determine the impact of the limited access permit on registration in Oregon. The study also helped in understanding the existing relationship between dental hygienists and dentists in the health sector. Through use of snowballing technique, a qualitative research was carried out. The research was able to determine that LAP dental hygienists and dentists had a positive relationship. Despite this, the research was not able to determine the impact of LAP registration due to limited number of LAP dental hygienists. This is one of the successful qualitative researches carried out in the dental public health (Battrell, Gadbury-Amyot & Overman, 2008). Another study carried out in Brazil looked at the perception of the comprehensiveness of care. This is through a qualitative study carried out among the dentists in Brazil health care system. The research findings were very important in coming up with robust equipment that can be used in the health services delivery to ensure appropriate dental care is given to public. The study was able to determine that comprehensiveness was needed in the dental public health. Other studies have focused on dental carries and the constraints faced by the available programs to combat it. This is through in-depth interviews (Mattos, Gallagher, Paiva & Abreu, 2015). Conclusion To sum up, the role of qualitative research in public dental health care cannot be underestimated. This is proven by the deep insights and evidence that is gained in this form of research. Qualitative research holds a lot of potential in dental public health. A range of research methodologies offered by the qualitative research method is required with the emerging and improving techniques in dental public health. Use of qualitative research methods broadens the evidence base and enables the researchers to answer the vital research questions which cannot be answered through other methods. Over the years, use of qualitative research in evidence based care has been very vital. This is due to fact that qualitative research is more flexible and provides evidence required in evidence based care. There has been a lot of successful public dental health research using qualitative method. Qualitative research continues to be a vital contributor to the dental public health care research. References Battrell, A. M., Gadbury-Amyot, C. C., & Overman, P. R. (2008). A qualitative study of limited access permit dental hygienists in Oregon. Journal of Dental Education, 72(3), 329-343. Black, N. (2001). Evidence based policy: proceed with care. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 323(7307), 275-279. Bower, E., & Scambler, S. (2007). The contributions of qualitative research towards dental public health practice. Community dentistry and oral epidemiology, 35(3), 161-169. Burnard, P., Gill, P., Stewart, K., Treasure, E., & Chadwick, B. (2008). Analysing and presenting qualitative data. British dental journal, 204(8), 429-432. Cohen, D. J., & Crabtree, B. F. (2008). Evaluative criteria for qualitative research in health care: controversies and recommendations. The Annals of Family Medicine, 6(4), 331-339. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2009). Qualitative research. Yogyakarta: PustakaPelajar. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research. Sage. Green, M. L., & Ruff, T. R. (2005). Why do residents fail to answer their clinical questions? A qualitative study of barriers to practicing evidence-based medicine. Academic Medicine, 80(2), 176-182. Grypdonck, M. H. (2006). Qualitative health research in the era of evidence-based practice. Qualitative Health Research, 16(10), 1371-1385. Hammell, K. W. (2001). Using qualitative research to inform the client-centred evidence-based practice of occupational therapy. The British journal of occupational therapy, 64(5), 228- 234. Holloway, I. (2005). Qualitative research in health care. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Jack, S. M. (2006). Utility of Qualitative Research Findings in Evidence‐Based Public Health Practice. Public Health Nursing, 23(3), 277-283. Kuper, A., Reeves, S., & Levinson, W. (2008). An introduction to reading and appraising qualitative research. Bmj, 337. Mattos, G. C. M., Gallagher, J. E., Paiva, S. M., & Abreu, M. H. N. G. (2015). Perception of ‘Comprehensiveness of Care’: a qualitative study amongst dentists in the Brazilian Health System. Brazilian oral research, 29(1), 1-7. Pope, C., Mays, N., Ziebland, S., le May, A., Williams, S., Coombs, M., ... & Crouch, R. (2006). Qualitative methods in health research. methods, 1(2), 18-56. Richards, H. M., & Schwartz, L. J. (2002). Ethics of qualitative research: are there special issues for health services research?. Family Practice, 19(2), 135-139. Ritchie, J. E. (1999). Using qualitative research to enhance the evidence-based practice of health care providers. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy, 45(4), 251-256. Rousseau, N., McColl, E., Newton, J., Grimshaw, J., & Eccles, M. (2003). Practice based, longitudinal, qualitative interview study of computerised evidence based guidelines in primary care. Bmj, 326(7384), 314-316. Rycroft‐Malone, J., Seers, K., Titchen, A., Harvey, G., Kitson, A., & McCormack, B. (2004). What counts as evidence in evidence‐based practice?. Journal of advanced nursing, 47(1), 81-90. Seale, C., Gobo, G., Gubrium, J. F., & Silverman, D. (Eds.). (2004). Qualitative research practice. Sage. Stapleton, H., Kirkham, M., & Thomas, G. (2002). Qualitative study of evidence based leaflets in maternity care. Bmj, 324(7338), 639-643. Stewart, K., Gill, P., Chadwick, B., & Treasure, E. (2008). Qualitative research in dentistry. British dental journal, 204(5), 235-239. Ulin, P. R., Robinson, E. T., & Tolley, E. E. (2012). Qualitative methods in public health: a field guide for applied research. John Wiley & Sons. Read More

This is a form of research which the researchers deal with what, how of an occurrence and not the size or quantity. This makes it possible to gain the meaning in the public dental health. Through qualitative research, the researcher is able to gain a deep insight into the people experiences and thought. This helps a lot in determining the behaviour of patients (Bower & Scambler, 2007). Qualitative research does not involve generalisations and helps the researchers gain an insight based on the participants views.

This ensures that generalisation is eliminated in the research process (Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). This makes it possible to gain a deep understanding of participant experiences and interpretations of dental health. The public notion of health and illness is well understood through this form of research. Use of qualitative research has been a great contribution to culturally specific data which is contextually rich. This is data which can help in critical design of important solutions to public health dental issues especially in the developing countries (Cohen & Crabtree, 2008).

In public dental health research, qualitative methods are highly flexible. They are capable of allowing adaptation and spontaneity between the researcher and participant. This is due to fact that it is possible to ask an open ended questions which are tailored for different participants. This makes the system to be more flexible than a yes or no answer (Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). When conducting research using this method, the relationship between the participant and researcher is less formal.

The participants can respond more elaborately and in details giving more information on public dental health (Bower & Scambler, 2007). When using this method for public dental health research, use of open ended questions gives the participants an opportunity to respond in their own words. This makes it possible to evoke responses which are; meaningful, unanticipated, rich and explanatory. The researcher can probe the participants based on their answers (Ulin, Robinson & Tolley, 2012).

This makes it possible to gain elaborated responses from the participant’s making the research more deep. Use of qualitative research in public dental health helps in using small focused sample rather than using large random samples. Use of qualitative research helps in gaining better understanding of a complex situation. Gaining a rich understanding of a dental health issues makes use of qualitative research necessary. Use of qualitative research in public dental health research helps a lot in determining the situation of dental health.

This is through identifying the causes of patients’ satisfaction and barriers to receiving proper dental care. The results from the research acts as an important step in determining the measures required in addressing the current challenges (Cohen & Crabtree, 2008). In order to gain insight and motivate people to have regular dental check-ups, it is important to know their attitudes in dental care. Qualitative studies helps a lot in gaining understanding in this topic. Qualitative studies helps in gaining understanding of people perceptions and experience.

This is through adopting an in-depth approach when investigating behaviours and motivations which underlies people’s actions (Ulin, Robinson & Tolley, 2012). Use of qualitative research has been very important when advancing policy development or implementation. Gaining population perspectives and fear in dental visits helps a lot in determining the barriers and facilities in dental health use. This is very useful in determining the discrepancies in people attitude on dental health and also in coming up with better policies to enhance dental care (Cohen & Crabtree, 2008).

Qualitative research has been gaining a lot of acceptance in public health. Qualitative research has been able to contribute in a great way to public health internationally (Ulin, Robinson & Tolley, 2012). It has made it possible to unpack the social cultural determinant of public dental health.

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