NNLM Evaluation Office

EvalBasics 4: Data Analysis for Program Evaluation

Exercise 3: Qualitative Data Analysis

Background:Twelve hair stylists were chosen to report regularly on how they used MedlinePlus in their outreach work. These 12 hair stylists were chosen because they had been working in their communities for more than 5 years, had easy Internet access, and used email regularly. Every two weeks for three months, the trainers would email the hair stylists to get their “stories” of how they used MedlinePlus. Listed below are sample responses.

Primary evaluation question: How do the hair stylist/lay health advisors incorporate MedlinePlus into their health outreach work?

Responses

Data[1] / Codes (Themes)
  1. A lady was put on a diabetes drug by her doctor, but didn’t have health insurance and the drug was very expensive. I found an article for her about affordable diabetes drugs. She took it to her doctor to see if she could get a prescription for a cheaper drug.

  1. I write MedlinePlus.gov on my appointment cards for clients and tell them it’s good for all kinds of health problems. (They may lose the MedlinePlus bookmark, but they won’t lose that appointment card!)

  1. One client who has diabetes said her doctor wanted her to get an eye exam for glaucoma and she wanted to know what that was. I found a description of glaucoma on MedlinePlus. She decided she better make an appointment.

  1. One of my clients has a daughter who has gestational diabetes, so I printed out some information for her. She was relieved to know it goes away, but she also said she’s going to show the information to her daughter so she will follow her doctor’s instructions.

  1. There is an article in MedlinePlus about lab tests. It explains “normal” ranges for the tests. I keep a copy of that so I can show my clients the normal ranges if we talk about lab tests.

  1. I was asked by a women’s circle at my church to talk about my project. I printed out a list of tips for preventing diabetes and the church made copies to pass out at the meetings.

  1. I helped a lady without dental insurance find a clinic that provides low cost dental care, so she could have her teeth checked and cleaned.

  1. I found a “record page” on MedlinePlus where people with diabetes can keep track of their blood glucose levels. I made copies of it to hand out during health chats for my clients who have to start tracking their sugar.

  1. One lady said someone told her that fish oil would help her high blood pressure. I told her about MedlinePlus and she looked it up. At our second visit, she said MedlinePlus said it did work on high blood pressure and she planned to talk to her doctor about taking fish oil capsules

  1. I used MedlinePlus to look up health information about my kids and it really helps me feel less anxious about their health. So whenever a client is worried about a family member or child, I show them the MedlinePlus bookmark and tell them I use it for all my questions about health.

  1. I heard something on the news about Advil not being good for people with diabetes. So if I find out a client has just been diagnosed, I tell them to check with their doctor about using pain relievers for headaches.

  1. My clients are always asking me to look up side effects for their prescriptions.

Writing reflective notes

  • You probably wrote a word or phrase identifying some theme or category. Now try to write a few sentences describing more clearly some of the themes that you see emerging in the stories.
  • What other ideas, thoughts, questions, or insights have occurred to you while working with these stories? Write anything that seems interesting or important to you.

Revised: 4/11/17Page 1 of 2

[1] All of these stories are fictional