Data Analysis
Interviews were transcribed and uploaded into a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software, ATLAS-ti (version 8). Data were analysed using Interpretive Description (ID). ID tends to be a flexible, applied approach to qualitative data analysis allowing for the creation of meaningful theoretical exploration of findings informed by clinical experience of the researcher (Thorne et al., 1997). ID can be a practical method, especially in applied professions concerned with health and illness (Thorne et al., 1997). The study aligned with ID in several ways. The process of analysis in ID is guided by the idea that inductive strategies should be prioritized in research. ID methodologists argue that technical procedures for coding, thematizing, and organizing have the potential to undermine efforts to understand data as a whole (i.e., “missing the forest for the trees;” Thorne et al., 1997). They argue that meaningful analysis of qualitative data within an applied field may require the researcher to step back and forth between clinical work and data analysis in a way that upholds clinical credibility and fosters meaningful theoretical linkages between theory and practice (Thorne et al., 1997).
For this study, several of the investigators (KM, CA, and DL), all trained in counselling psychology and qualitative methods, took part in data analysis. Initial reading and re-reading of the transcripts was conducted by KM, a senior doctoral student and research assistant on the study. Upon reading through the transcripts, tentative initial coding was introduced to organize the data as a whole and highlight passages and data segments that responded to the research question. The data were then transferred to CA, a doctoral student, who also served as a SHARP-PWP program co-facilitator/trainee. As such, she had connection to the participants’ explorations of their experience in the group and contributed her perspectives to the coding. Initial themes and codes were then reviewed and finalized under the supervision and in consultation with the principal investigator on the study (DL). Any differences in analytic interpretations were resolved through discussion.