Focus Group Research in Palliative and End-of-Life Care: Designing, Implementing and Maximizing the Intersection of Research Methods and Social Work

Focus groups are strong research tools for advancing knowledge about patients, families and health care professionals in the arena of palliative and end-of-life care. Utilization of focus groups in this subject area allows exploration of experiences and perspectives on sensitive and complex topics such as culture and traditions, loss, pain, mortality, social stigma and ethics. Careful attention to research design and conduct includes critical decisions in planning the research. Social workers are particularly well poised to conduct focus group research, given the values, knowledge and skills central to the profession. Their unique professional preparation, often unfamiliar to health care colleagues in the medical setting of palliative and end-of-life care, offers a valuable opportunity for highlighting social work research and encouraging collaborative interdisciplinary research.

This workshop will present key considerations for designing and conducting focus group research in palliative and end-of-life care, with particular attention to decision making in research planning. The workshop will address choices about focus group participants, leader, script, data collection and analysis. In addition, the workshop will present the unique intersection of professional social work preparation and focus groups, illuminating the strengths that the profession brings to implementation of this research method. The implications of this powerful intersection will be discussed.

A variety of pedagogical methods will be used in the session. The workshop will introduce conceptual information about the focus group research method and the distinguishing features of conducting research in palliative and end-of-life care. Workshop participants will be led through an experiential mock focus group session, after which an analytic discussion of design and implementation decisions will be facilitated. Participants will be encouraged to debate advantages and disadvantages of design and implementation choices as they relate to the goals of research. Discussion of social work strengths for this type of research will be facilitated, utilizing critical examination of the experiential exercise. Participants will be engaged in identifying the implications and applications of this knowledge towards advancing social work research and interdisciplinary research potential in the medically-oriented context of palliative and end-of-life care.