Focus group research: what is it and how can it be used?

The focus group research method has been used in a variety of settings over the years. The method of using group interviews was described as long ago as 1926. Focus groups have been used by large corporations to gather the public's opinions regarding their products. In the past 20 years the focus group method has been increasingly used in health care research in a variety of settings. Researchers use the focus group method in order to obtain in-depth knowledge concerning attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and opinions of individuals regarding a specific health issue. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the focus group research method. The authors discuss the process, analysis, advantages and disadvantages of this qualitative method.

Single-room maternity care: Systematic review and narrative synthesis.

Aim: To describe the single-room maternity care model and evaluate its influence on patient, provider and system outcomes. Design: Mixed-method systematic review and narrative synthesis. Methods: We conducted searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the grey literature from January 1985-August 2018, yielding 151 records. Pairs of reviewers independently applied the inclusion criteria using a standardized screening tool to both titles/abstracts and full texts. Overall, 13 studies were retained. Results: Most studies of single-room care were from the United States and Canada, and assessed costs, patient satisfaction and/or provider satisfaction. Studies used cross-sectional and/or pre-post comparative, retrospective descriptive and qualitative designs. Methodological quality of quantitative studies was generally weak, and few studies conducted inferential statistics. Maternal satisfaction with the single-room maternity model was positive across the studies; however, healthcare provider satisfaction was mixed.

Maternal Prenatal Anxiety and Children's Externalizing and Internalizing Behavioral Problems: The Moderating Roles of Maternal-Child Attachment Security and Child Sex.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal anxiety is associated with child behavioral problems. Prenatal anxiety is predictive of postnatal anxiety which can interfere with the security of maternal-child attachment and further raise the risk of child behavior problems. Secure maternal-child attachment is essential for optimal emotional health. Sex influences the type of behavior problem experienced. There is a gap in understanding whether attachment security and the sex of the child can moderate association between prenatal anxiety and children's behavioral problems. PURPOSE: To examine the association between prenatal anxiety and child behavioral problems and to test the moderating effects of attachment security and child sex on the association between prenatal anxiety and child behavioral problems. METHODS: Secondary analysis of data from 182 mothers and their children, enrolled in the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition Study using Hayes' (2013) conditional process modeling. RESULTS: Prenatal anxiety was associated with both externalizing (b = -0.53; standard error (SE) = 0.20; p = 0.009) and internalizing (b = -0.32; SE = 0.13; p = 0.01) behaviors only in children with an insecure style of attachment. Child sex did not moderate the association between prenatal anxiety and children's behavioral problems. CONCLUSIONS: Attachment security moderated the association between prenatal anxiety and children's externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems.

Women's experiences with postpartum anxiety disorders: a narrative literature review.

PURPOSE: Postpartum anxiety disorders are common and may have significant consequences for mothers and their children. This review examines the literature on women's experiences with postpartum generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), postpartum panic disorder (PD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). METHODS: MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL, PsycINFO, and reference lists were searched. Qualitative and quantitative studies assessing women's experiences with GAD, postpartum PD, OCD, and PTSD were included. Narrative approach to literature synthesis was used. RESULTS: Fourteen studies (among 44 articles) met the criteria for review to identify descriptions of women's cognitive, affective, and somatic experiences related to postpartum anxiety disorders. Loss, frustration, and guilt, accompanied by physical symptoms of tension, were some of the experiences identified across studies. Most women suffered from more than one anxiety disorder, in addition to postpartum depression. To date, research has focused on prevalence rates of postpartum anxiety disorders, and evidence about clinical and subclinical symptoms of postpartum anxiety disorders and outcomes on mother and child is lacking. Postpartum anxiety disorders may have negative effects on parenting and child development; however, the nature of the underlying mechanisms is unclear. CONCLUSION: More robust longitudinal studies are needed to examine the impact of postpartum GAD, PD, OCD, and PTSD symptoms on the mother and the mother-child relationship to develop targets for therapeutic preventative interventions.

Pregnancy-related anxiety: A concept analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Evidence suggests that pregnancy-related anxiety is more strongly associated with maternal and child outcomes than general anxiety and depression are and that pregnancy-related anxiety may constitute a distinct concept. However, because of its poor conceptualization, the measurement and assessment of pregnancy-related anxiety have been limited. Efforts to analyze this concept can significantly contribute to its theoretical development. The first objective of this paper was to clarify the concept of pregnancy-related anxiety and identify its characteristics and dimensions. The second aim was to examine the items of current pregnancy-related anxiety measures to determine the dimensions and attributes that each scale addresses, noting any gaps between the current assessment and the construct of the concept. DESIGN: A concept analysis was conducted to examine the concept of pregnancy-related anxiety. DATA SOURCES: To obtain the relevant evidence, several databases were searched including MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EBSCO's SocINDEX, Psychological and Behavioral Sciences Collection, CINAHL, SCOPUS, and EMBASE. REVIEW METHODS: A modified approach based on Walker and Avant (Strategies for theory construction in nursing. 5th ed; 2011) was used. Qualitative or quantitative studies published in English that explored or examined anxiety during pregnancy or its dimensions prospectively or retrospectively were included. RESULTS: Thirty eight studies provided data for the concept analysis. Three critical attributes (i.e., affective responses, cognitions, and somatic symptoms), three antecedents (i.e., a real or anticipated threat to pregnancy or its outcomes, low perceived control, and excessive cognitive activity, and four consequences (i.e., negative attitudes, difficulty concentrating, excessive reassurance-seeking behavior, and avoidance behaviors) were identified. Nine dimensions for pregnancy-related anxiety were determined, and a definition of the concept was proposed. The most frequently reported dimensions included anxiety about fetal health, fetal loss, childbirth, and parenting and newborn care. The content of five scales was analyzed to determine the attributes and dimensions measured by each tool. Our findings suggest that the Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Scale tapping five dimensions of pregnancy-related anxiety and the Pregnancy Outcome Questionnaire with six items pertaining to the consequences of pregnancy-related anxiety can respectively be considered the most useful tools for assessing the existence and severity of the concept. CONCLUSIONS: The critical attributes of pregnancy-related anxiety are similar to those defined for anxiety disorders. However, the behavioral consequences of pregnancy-related anxiety appear to apply only some women and may serve as important indicators of the severity of the condition. Current tools are useful instruments to determine whether the concept exists and to capture selected domains of pregnancy-related anxiety. A tool that includes all dimensions of the concept and examines the severity of pregnancy-related anxiety is needed.