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Table 9 Quality of qualitative studies (studies included in the review)

From: A systematic review of the health, social and financial impacts of welfare rights advice delivered in healthcare settings

Authors (date)

Sample Size

Sample composition

Sample selection strategy

Data collection method

Analytical method

Abbott & Hobby (2002)[34]

6

clients

illustrative of "complex interactions between social situation, income and health"

interviews

development of case studies

Actions (2004)[81]

Not stated

clients

Not stated

questionnaire with free text

non stated – verbatim reporting of free text comments

Bowran (1997)[85]

25

17 successful claimants, 7 unsuccessful claimants

all those seen in 1996 invited to take part, 43 consented, purposefully sampled

unstructured interviews

grounded theory

Emanuel & Begum (2000)[90]

10

10 clients

5 users whose HADS/MYMOP improved, 5 users whose HADS/MYMOP didn't improve/worsened

semi-structured interviews

thematic analysis

Farmer & Kennedy (2001)[91]

8

4 clients after advice given, 4 clients before and after advice given

clients seen after chosen by random selection, clients seen before and after approached in waiting room and asked to take part

semi-structured interviews

development of case studies and inductive thematic analysis

Fleming & Golding (1997)[92]

27

clients

all clients who gave consent

semi-structured interviews

not stated – description of apparently important areas reported

Galvin et al (2000)[67, 94]

10

clients

service users those with multiple and complex needs

"focused interviews"

illuminative evaluation, thematic content analysis

Knight (2002)[103]

28

service users

not stated

focus groups and telephone unstructured interviews

thematic analysis

MacMillan & CAB Partnership (2004)[106]

38

clients

Those clients who gave permission to be contacted for research

telephone interview

not stated – verbatim reporting of comments given

Moffatt et al (2004)[70]

11

all white, 7 women, age range 46–76 years, all unemployed/retired/unable to work, all chronic health problems, 8 never used welfare advice before

purposeful of those who benefited financially

semi-structured interviews

establish analytical categories, grouping into overarching key themes

Moffatt (2004)[109]

25

14 in intervention arm, 14 female, mean age 75

purposeful to get those who did and didn't receive intervention and those who did and didn't benefit financially

semi-structured interviews

development of conceptual framework and thematic charting

Reading et al (2002)[72]

10

5 service users and 5 non-service users who were eligible and expressed debt concerns at start of project

random selection of two groups represented

semi-structure interviews

modified grounded theory with more descriptive approach

Sherratt et al (2000)[77]

41

13 patients

4 patients randomly chosen per month and invited to take part

semi-structured interviews with clients, focus groups with staff

thematic analysis

Woodcock (2004)[117]

Not stated

clients

all clients seen sent satisfaction questionnaire

postal questionnaire with free text

not stated – verbatim reporting of few text comments