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.