[Use of qualitative evidence syntheses in health services research in German-speaking countries: results of an online survey].

Abstract

Qualitative evidence syntheses (QES) can answer qualitative research questions across different studies and thus offer an important part in the collection of evidence. While QES are a common set of methods internationally, they appear to be little used in health services research in the German-speaking countries to date.The aim of the study was to analyse the current use of QES in health services research in the German-speaking countries in order to draw conclusions for their establishment.An online survey was conducted by the subgroup Qualitative Evidence Syntheses in the German Network Health Services Research. The survey was aimed at health services researchers in German-speaking countries. Among other things, experiences with QES as well as barriers and support factors during implementation were surveyed. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and content-structuring qualitative content analysis.A total of n=103 people took part in the survey, n=45 of whom had already been involved in QES. They had used QES to analyse the perspectives of target groups, to describe and evaluate health care, to (further) develop models and concepts and to implement and evaluate interventions. The participants referred to the high added value of QES, particularly due to its practical relevance, as well as to methodological difficulties in implementation and the desire for better training programmes.Qualitative evidence syntheses offer a potential that is still underutilised in health services research and can be particularly useful in the development and evaluation of interventions and the investigation of contexts and complexity.