Conducting school-based focus groups: lessons learned from the CATS project.
Participation of children in focus groups has received scant attention despite the effectiveness of group interviews in eliciting children's views. Focus groups are a valuable approach for generating qualitative data from children; however, conducting school-based focus groups involves challenges specific to the school milieu and the ages and development of the participants. Lessons learned from conducting school-based focus groups during the Child-Adolescent Teasing Scale (CATS) project are applied to examination of key issues including entry to schools, informed consent and confidentiality, students' cognitive development, safety within the group, and appropriate procedures.
Horowitz
June Andrews
JA
University of New Mexico, College of Nursing, Albuquerque, NM, USA. june.horwitz@bc.edu
Vessey
Judith A
JA
Carlson
Karen L
KL
Bradley
Joan F
JF
Montoya
Carolyn
C
McCullough
Bill
B
D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D003219:Confidentiality; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D012574:Schools