Question

Explain two of the current methods of research within a community health care and mental health setting? How do these provide cost effective links to the consumer?

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Answer 1

The two current methods of research within a community health care and mental health setting are Event sampling methodology and qualitative methods.

Event sampling methodology refers to a dairy study. Event sampling methodology consist of sampling methods which studies ongoing experiences and events by assessing participants one or more times per day in a naturally occuring social environment. It serves as an exploratory role in which it studies the prevalance of behaviours. The popularity of ESM increased in recent years as it dels with intraindividual variances and cause effect relationships.

There are three types of ESM procedures:

1. Signal contingent – some form of notification, such as SMS text messaging,^[7] or beeping from a pager or wristwatch, notifies participants to record data at either fixed or random intervals.^[2] An advantage of this type of ESM is it minimises the recall bias. It improves response rates and timeliness by sending a reminder signal when the participant does not respond within a specified time.^[7]
2. Event contingent – participant records any occurrence of certain pre-determined events. This form is most useful when the event is fairly infrequent. It also allows flexibility for tracking events that typically fluctuate on their own. Clear definitions for the events of interest are important for not distorting the frequency and allowing the participant to make an easy distinction as to whether or not the event has occurred.
3. Interval contingent – records data according to the passing of a certain period of time. Typically, participants are asked to self-report on the behavior of interest at pre-determined intervals which are determined on the basis of either theoretical or logical units of time.  A day is the most commonly used sampling unit.^[2]

Strengths of ESM

There are many strengths to using ESM. It serves as a demonstration of the interaction between the person and the context and provides insight to the contingencies of behavior. A second strength of ESM is that it provides ecological validity as the data collection is in the participant’s natural environment, and this allows greater generalizability of the data. Another strength is that it is an excellent tool to measure individual differences and the differences that emerge or change over time. With typical self-report measures, there can be concerns with memory or recall bias where participants may have difficulty recalling the past. A final strength of ESM is that is serves as a demonstration of the usefulness of multi methods assessment. The results and application of ESM are most useful when they are used in combination with global reports

Qualitative and mixed methods play an importantt role in mental health services research. Qualitative methods allows people to speak in their own words, rather than conforming to categories and terms imposed on them . By eliciting participant perspectives, qualitative methods serve to enhance the validity of data being collected because it enables the investigator to compare their own perception of reality with the perception of those who are being studied. Qualitative methods have been used in mental health services research for an evaluation of process.These methods are frequently used in evaluation research to explain how a program or intervention operates.One feature of qualitative research design observed in mental health services research is its emphasis on naturalistic inquiry which minimizes investigator manipulation of the study setting and places no prior constraints on what the outcomes of the research will be.

As both event sampling methods and qualitative method occurs in a natural setting it will be always cost effective to the consumers.