. 2009 Sep 10;339:b3496. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b3496

Table 1.

Characteristics of qualitative studies included in this review and their level of integration with accompanying randomised controlled trials (studies that used only qualitative methods of data collection are not described)

Randomised controlled trial, country	Qualitative study	Health service issue tackled by intervention	Trial stage during which qualitative research undertaken	Methodological approach to qualitative work	Reasons for including qualitative methods in trial	Nature and degree of qualitative and trial data integration in analysis and interpretation
Burns 2002,^w1 UK	Weaver 2003^w2	Community based management of people with psychosis	During trial	“Thematic interview survey” and “critical incident approach”	6, 7, 8, 9, 11	B
Davies 2002,^w3 Canada	Davies 2002,^w4 Graham 2004^w5	Uptake of obstetric guidelines	After trial	“Qualitative case study research methodology”	7, 8, 9	B
Faithfull 2001,^w6 UK	Faithfull 1995^w7	Morbidity and satisfaction with care in men treated with radical radiotherapy for cancer of prostate and bladder	Before trial	Not stated	1, 4	A
Fretheim 2003,^w8 Norway	Fretheim 2004^w9	Appropriate use of antihypertensive and cholesterol lowering drugs for prevention of cardiovascular disease	Before and during trial	Not stated	3	A
Jaatinen 2002,^w10 Finland	Jaatinen 2003^w11	Managing doctor referrals to specialist	After trial	Action research	12	B (but hard to say as so little data)
Jibaja-Weiss 2003,^w12 USA	Jibaja-Weiss 2003^w12	Breast and cervical cancer screening	Before trial	Not stated	3	F (No information)
Kaner 2003,^w13 UK	Lock 2002^w14	Alcohol use	Before trial	Grounded theory	1, 3	A
Koniak-Griffen 2003,^w¹⁵ USA	Lesser 2003^w16	HIV prevention in adolescent mothers	During trial	Ethnography	1, 6	E
McKinstry 2002,^w17 UK	Unpublished	Telephone versus face to face consultations to manage requests for same day appointments	After trial	None specified	7	D
Miles 2002,^w18 UK	Miles 2002^w19	Whether sexual health clinics for women led by specialist nurses are as effective as those led by senior house officers	Before and during trial	Focused ethnographic approach, grounded theory approach	1, 5, 6, 7, 8	B
Osganian 2002^w²⁰ (primary paper Luepker 2000), USA	Finnegan 2000,^w²¹ Zapka 1999^w22	Delay in presentation to hospital for acute myocardial infarction	Before trial	Not specified, but social cognitive theory and self regulatory model of health and illness behaviour both informed interview guide	1, 3	B
Robling et al 2002,^w23 UK	Robling 1998,^w24 Hale 1999^w25	Use of direct access magnetic resonance imaging by general practitioners	Before trial	Critical incident technique in which each magnetic resonance imaging requested was regarded as a critical incident and was focus for interview	1, 4	A
Scheel 2002,^w26 Norway	Scheel 2002^w27	Assisting people with lower back pain to return to work	Before trial	None specified	3	E
Stange 2003,^w28 USA	Goodwin 2001^w29	Improving delivery of preventive services	During trial	Ethnography	12	D
Szmukler 2003,^w30 UK	Stern 1999^w31	Support for carers of patients with psychosis	During trial	Narrative approach plus “relative influence questioning” for question guidance	13	D
Thapar 2002,^w32 UK	Unpublished	Primary care of people with epilepsy	Before trial	Not stated	3	D
Tijhuis 2002,^w33 Netherlands	Unpublished, Tijhuis 2003^w34	Care for people with rheumatoid arthritis	Before trial	Not stated	4	D
Von Koch 2001,^w35 Sweden	Von Koch 1998,^w36 Von Koch 2000^w37	Rehabilitation after acute stroke	During trial.	Study a: “qualitative case study”; study b: not stated	Study a: 5, 6, 7; study b: 5	A
Wallace 2002,^w38 UK	Unpublished, MacFarlane 2002^w39	Communication between general practitioners, specialists, and patients about specialist consultations	During trial	Study a: none specified (called “qualitative evaluation”; study b: grounded theory approach	Study a: 7; study b: 6, 7	Study a: B; study b: F
Watson 2002,^w40 UK	Watson 2000^w41	Evidence based prescribing by pharmacists	Before trial	Not stated, but used theory of planned behaviour to design interview guide	1, 3	A
Wheeler 2003,^w42 USA	Clark 1994^w43	Management of heart disease in older women	Before trial	None specified. Implied to be loosely based on grounded theory	1, 3, 5	B
Young 2003,^w44 Canada	Young 2004^w45	Care for patients after myocardial infarction	After trial	None specified (study notes that “qualitative design used”	7	B
Zermansky 2002,^w46 UK	Petty 2001^w47	Appropriateness of repeat drugs prescribed to elderly patients	During trial	Not stated	12	A

1=exploring issues related to healthcare question of interest or research context; 2=generating hypotheses for examination in randomised controlled trial; 3=developing and refining intervention; 4=development or selection of appropriate outcome measures; 5=examining fidelity or integrity of interventions delivered, including describing intervention as delivered; 6=“unpacking” implementation and change processes; 7=exploring deliverers’ and recipients’ responses to intervention; 8=exploring reasons for trial findings; 9=explaining variations in effectiveness within sample; 10=examining appropriateness of underlying theory; 11=generating further questions or hypotheses; 12=other; 13=unclear; A=no integration (analyses and interpretation done separately); B=analyses done separately, with degrees of integration in interpretation; C=integration during both analysis and interpretation; D=not reported; E=other; F=unclear.^w48