A reflection on ten years experience of providing qualitative research training in primary care

Aims: To gain structured feedback on a qualitative research methods training programmedelivered to primary care researchers over a period of ten years. To examinedilemmas and challenges and how these had been resolved. To examine how the programmecould be further developed. Background: The Wolds Primary Care ResearchNetwork’s (WoReN) qualitative research methods training programme was developedand evolved in response to the needs of primary care practitioners and researchersand the NHS Research Agenda. Methods: Information on participants’ professionalbackgrounds: which workshops they attended; their evaluation sheets, comments; andpersonal appraisals were collected from 1996 to 2006. Structured telephone conversationswith a number of participants and ongoing informal feedback from participantsadded to this information. Numbers and ranges of professionals attending workshopswere ascertained, how far they travelled to workshops and further degrees obtained bythem, within the decade, was also noted. Findings: We found a lack of similar trainingelsewhere. A wide range of people attended workshops, especially general practitioners(GP) and academic researchers. Other practitioners were a significant presencehowever, and included nurses, pharmacists, health visitors and professions allied tomedicine. Participants were prepared to attend extended workshops and to travel significantdistances to them. Participants preferred a continuous cycle of workshopsrather than discreet sessions, in order for them to consolidate their learning and todevelop at their own pace. Practical exercises reflecting the qualitative researchprocess were considered very conducive to learning and participants also appreciatedone-to-one consultations about their work and longer-term, ongoing support as theyprogressed through their projects. Workshop design needed to continually reflect thechanging requirements of participants, employers, funders, potential trainers andnational NHS requirements. A new audience for training was identified in supervisorsnot versed in the qualitative paradigm