A Thematic Analysis of Compassion Rounds

This research will be conducted as a Thematic Analysis. Participants will be recruited from those who take part in compassion rounds, including patients, their loved ones, physicians, chaplains, social workers, nurses, and other care providers.

Qualitative data on participants' experiences throughout the intervention will be collected and analyzed using thematic methodology. The data will be used to explain the psychosocial processes that influence participant experience and reported outcomes.

Qualitative methodology does not seek to verify hypotheses based on logical assumptions, as quantitative measures do, instead it is used to derive salient constructs directly from the data. This methodology allows inductive understanding of participants' social reality and perceptions of the treatment, resulting in explanations of how the treatment leads to outcomes and the identification of variables that may then be quantified for more generalizable study.

Semi-structured Interviews

Through semi-structured interviews, which will be recorded and transcribed, the researcher asks participants open-ended questions intended to elicit perspectives on their experience of compassion rounds, without limiting responses to pre-determined categories of interest. The following are examples:

"What/who do you remember most vividly?" "How would you describe your experience to a friend?" "What was most meaningful to you? "What made you feel uncomfortable?" "Would you do it again? Why or why not?" "What, if anything, changed after compassion rounding?"

Coding

The researcher codes and documents throughout data collection and analysis to lend transparency to the coding process and to keep a record of ideas to inform thematic exposition. The researcher assigns categorical codes (labels or concepts) to the transcribed responses line-by-line, analyzing patterns of relationships and using a constant comparison technique to identify similarities and differences throughout the data. The following coding techniques will be used to analyze transcriptions:

• open coding: the researcher segments the data into preliminary categories, based on similarity
• axial coding: the researcher groups the categories into themes that provide new ways of seeing and understanding the phenomenon under study
• selective coding: the researcher integrates the categories and themes to articulate a coherent theory of the phenomenon of study.

Theoretical Sampling Grounded theory research uses "theoretical sampling" to identify participants for interviews. Purposive samples are identified to initiate data collection and analysis, and to select participants who are likely to clarify, verify, or contradict data as it is collected. Sampling concludes when the data is "saturated," which occurs when coded categories are well-defined and no new significant insights are emerging from interviews.

Thematic Development and Validation

The researcher develops thematic explanations that stem from rendering participants' experiences throughout the practice of compassion rounding.

Themes are evaluated for fit and relevance and employee participants may be asked to validate the researcher's findings in follow-up interviews and focus groups.

Observation The researcher will also observe compassion rounding to collect data that will provide further insight to participants' experiences. Observations of interactions and reactions in real time will be documented and the data will be coded and analyzed using the techniques described above. Observational data will not be integrated into interview data, but will be used to confirm or contrast reported data.