Qualitative research in dental traumatology—A narrative review

Abstract

This review highlights the recent contributions of qualitative research in advancing understanding of dental trauma injury and the barriers and enablers to guide policy for improved patient-centred care including transitional care. It summarises the common approaches and methods used and outlines the key factors that guide the appraisal of qualitative studies. It highlights the importance of the application of qualitative research methods in dental research to generate rich and detailed data to provide explanations and insights into people's experiences, beliefs and attitudes and the complexity of human decision-making and behaviour. In the past decade while there have been a growing number of publications of qualitative studies in dental journals, qualitative studies remain a small percentage of the published dental traumatology research. This may be because of limited understanding about the background, methods and rigour of qualitative research.