Mic-Drop Worthy Qualitative Health Research with Megan Lefebvre
Hello Qualitative Mind,
I often talk about mic-drop worthy qualitative health research, and to me that’s research that is useful to participants and communities, that is publishable and can be shared broadly, and as a result can help to advance the researchers career. Megan Lefebvre’s research is the perfect example of all three. She was a guest on our blog back on September 22, 2020 and we want to take this opportunity to remind you about what she shared with us (and the potential that your own qualitative research could hold)! Megan recorded a video where she talked about her background, positionality in research, and what led her towards qualitative methods. The video is available here and is really neat, so go check it out!
I also asked Megan to write a brief introduction to her video. Without further ado, I give you Megan Lefebvre:
“I am a PhD graduate from the University of Alberta who partnered with researchers from the University of Alberta, Northern Alberta HIV Program (NAP) clinicians and HIV-positive participants who attend the NAP. Our research was guided by the principles of community-based participatory research and used qualitative methods (focused ethnography, rapid community assessment, qualitative description) to understand why HIV-positive individuals maintain adherence to their HIV medication, despite living in “chaos”. Combining principles of community-based participatory research with various methods allowed for flexibility and adjustment to changes in our research plan and an openness to learning and using appropriate research methods. Our research generated meaningful findings; we identified “control” was cornerstone for maintaining HIV medication adherence.
Participants felt that while they had little control over their life they recognized that, by taking their HIV medication, they could have control over their HIV, enabling them to make additional positive life changes. We then created a knowledge translation (KT) plan to share our findings with HIV-positive community members and HIV community organizations. To do this, we created a video, “Living with HIV and its OK”, which featured original study participants so that the research findings could be available to a wide audience, mainly HIV-positive community members. These community members may be able to better identify with, and therefore learn from, our participants who face similar life challenges (verses a healthcare or community organization staff member). The purpose of our video, therefore, was to start a conversation about the importance of taking HIV medications consistently; the intention was to help HIV-positive community members be inspired, informed, and gain the confidence to make positive changes in their life. Our research generated media attention. Local news stories attracted so much attention on Twitter that CBC featured study participants, HIV Edmonton staff and me on the CBC evening television news. The immediate change in clinical practice, activity on social media, and interest from the community suggested that our research impacted the HIV community and continues to resonate with a broader audience. If you are interested, here is the link to our video.”
In the video Megan recorded for Quali Q readers (available here) she talked about taking her qualitative findings on the road and disseminating her mic-drop worthy qualitative health research. Megan is an inspiring colleague and passionate qualitative health researcher. I hope you learn from and appreciate her work as much as I do.
If conducting rigorous, mic-drop worthy qualitative health research is something that interests you I would highly recommend you put your name on the waitlist for our upcoming class of QRB! Inside QRB we will learn to design, conduct and write useful, publishable, impactful qualitative research (without getting lost in a maze of complex readings and endless debates that will make your head spin). And if you aren’t on our mailing list yet, now is the time to join. We have a webinar coming up in September that you won’t want to miss!
Talk soon,
Maira
*This post was originally published on September 22, 2020 and was updated on August 24, 2021.