Ethnographic methods for process evaluations of complex health behaviour interventions

Morgan-Trimmer, Sarah and Wood, Fiona ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7397-4074 2016. Ethnographic methods for process evaluations of complex health behaviour interventions. Trials 17 (232) 10.1186/s13063-016-1340-2

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Abstract

This article outlines the contribution that ethnography could make to process evaluations for trials of complex health-behaviour interventions. Process evaluations are increasingly used to examine how health-behaviour interventions operate to produce outcomes and often employ qualitative methods to do this. Ethnography shares commonalities with the qualitative methods currently used in health-behaviour evaluations but has a distinctive approach over and above these methods. It is an overlooked methodology in trials of complex health-behaviour interventions that has much to contribute to the understanding of how interventions work. These benefits are discussed here with respect to three strengths of ethnographic methodology: (1) producing valid data, (2) understanding data within social contexts, and (3) building theory productively. The limitations of ethnography within the context of process evaluations are also discussed.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine
Subjects:	R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Additional Information:	PDF uploaded in accordance with publisher's policies at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/1745-6215/ (accessed 14.4.16).
Publisher:	BioMed Central
ISSN:	1745-6215
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 April 2016
Date of Acceptance:	6 April 2016
Last Modified:	04 May 2023 19:04
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/89189

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