An interpretive qualitative focus group study was conducted in primary care in England between January and February 2016. A purposive sampling strategy [15 ] was used to recruit individuals with type 2 diabetes from three GP practices, three community pharmacies, a dental practice, a local community centre and a local Diabetes UK group. This strategy was used to maximize diversity in terms of demographic characteristics, time since diagnosis, type of treatment and degree of engagement with healthcare.
Participants were approached through flyers with a reply slip. These flyers were worded in a neutral manner and were directed to all type 2 diabetic patients, who might be interested in discussing diet. No distinction was made in the recruitment, between those who were or were not satisfied with any previous dietary advice that they had received. On receipt of the reply slip, participants were contacted by the researcher to confirm eligibility (adults over the age of 18 with a diagnosis by a doctor of type 2 diabetes), and to explain the aims of the study. Potential participants were provided with a participant information sheet. If participants were willing to participate they were asked to sign a consent form and were subsequently invited to attend one of the focus groups. One individual declined the invitation to participate.
A semi-structured topic guide was used in the focus groups, which had been developed from the literature review. The discussions started with a brief introduction of each participant about their diabetes, treatment and its duration. Subsequently, open questions assessed participants’ knowledge on healthy eating and their perception of the importance of the advised diet in the overall management of their diabetes. Follow-up questions were asked afterwards referring to the quality of the healthy eating advice received in primary care.
Three focus groups were conducted in January and February 2016, in a private meeting room. Each focus group lasted for one hour. The groups were co-facilitated by an experienced pharmacist (MAA) and one or two other healthcare professionals, who were another pharmacist, a dentist and a retired nurse. The groups were audio recorded, with participants having confirmed agreement for recording. These recordings were then transcribed verbatim and each participant was assigned a participant identity code. The data were analysed manually by emergent themes analysis [16 ] by two of the authors (MAA, JS). A sample of the data were initially analysed independently by MAA and JS and then compared, leading to development of the coding tree. Data saturation was achieved in the third focus group.
Participants were approached through flyers with a reply slip. These flyers were worded in a neutral manner and were directed to all type 2 diabetic patients, who might be interested in discussing diet. No distinction was made in the recruitment, between those who were or were not satisfied with any previous dietary advice that they had received. On receipt of the reply slip, participants were contacted by the researcher to confirm eligibility (adults over the age of 18 with a diagnosis by a doctor of type 2 diabetes), and to explain the aims of the study. Potential participants were provided with a participant information sheet. If participants were willing to participate they were asked to sign a consent form and were subsequently invited to attend one of the focus groups. One individual declined the invitation to participate.
A semi-structured topic guide was used in the focus groups, which had been developed from the literature review. The discussions started with a brief introduction of each participant about their diabetes, treatment and its duration. Subsequently, open questions assessed participants’ knowledge on healthy eating and their perception of the importance of the advised diet in the overall management of their diabetes. Follow-up questions were asked afterwards referring to the quality of the healthy eating advice received in primary care.
Three focus groups were conducted in January and February 2016, in a private meeting room. Each focus group lasted for one hour. The groups were co-facilitated by an experienced pharmacist (MAA) and one or two other healthcare professionals, who were another pharmacist, a dentist and a retired nurse. The groups were audio recorded, with participants having confirmed agreement for recording. These recordings were then transcribed verbatim and each participant was assigned a participant identity code. The data were analysed manually by emergent themes analysis [16 ] by two of the authors (MAA, JS). A sample of the data were initially analysed independently by MAA and JS and then compared, leading to development of the coding tree. Data saturation was achieved in the third focus group.
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