Methodological articles about the focus group method in health care journals mainly summarize general advice from the social sciences (e.g., Kingry et al., 1990 Kitzinger, 1995, 2006), while field-specific aspects of the target groups (patients, doctors, other medical staff) and the research questions (not only sociological but often also medical or technical) are seldom addressed. Even though focus groups have been used in a great variety of health research fields, such as patients’ treatments and perceptions in the context of specific illnesses (rheumatoid arthritis: for example, Feldthusen, Björk, Forsblad-d’Elia, & Mannerkorpi, 2013 cancer: for example, Gerber, Hamann, Rasco, Woodruff, & Lee, 2012 diabetes: for example, Nafees, Lloyd, Kennedy-Martin, & Hynd, 2006 heart failure: for example, Rasmusson et al., 2014), community health research (e.g., Daley et al., 2010 Rhodes, Hergenrather, Wilkin, Alegría-Ortega, & Montaño, 2006), or invention of new diagnostic or therapeutic methods (e.g., Vincent, Clark, Marquez Zimmer, & Sanchez, 2006), the method and its particular use in health research is rarely reflected. For this reason, methodological recommendations on using focus groups in the health care context are quite rare, and researchers rely mainly on general advice from the social sciences (e.g., Krueger, 1988 Morgan, 1993 Morgan & Krueger, 1998 Stewart et al., 2007). The use of focus groups in health care research is even more recent. Historically, focus groups were used mainly for market research before the method was adopted for application in qualitative research in the social sciences ( Morgan, 1996). Hence, although it takes more time and effort to organize focus groups, and they cause greater logistical problems than individual interviews do, they might generate more ideas about, and yield deeper insights into, the problem under investigation ( Coenen, Stamm, Stucki, & Cieza, 2012 Kingry, Tiedje, & Friedman, 1990 Morgan, 2009). The degree of structure of the focus group depends on the openness of the research question(s). Questions relating to the research topic are designed by the researchers and are used to guide the discussion ( Stewart et al., 2007). Although focus groups allow participants to respond in their own words and to choose discussion topics themselves, they are not completely unstructured. Thus, experiences are shared and opinions voiced that might not surface during individual interviews ( Carey, 1994 Stewart, Shamdasani, & Rook, 2007). The group functions as a promoter of synergy and spontaneity by encouraging the participants to comment, explain, disagree, and share their views. The fact that the group process helps people to identify and clarify their views is considered to be an important advantage of focus groups compared with individual interviews ( Kitzinger, 1995). They are often included in mixed-methods studies to gain more information on how to construct questionnaires or interpret results ( Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007 Kroll, Neri, & Miller, 2005). Focus groups have been widely used in health research in recent years to explore the perspectives of patients and other groups in the health care system (e.g., Carr et al., 2003 Côté-Arsenault & Morrison-Beedy, 2005 Kitzinger, 2006).
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