Integrating qualitative research into occupational health: a case study among hospital workers.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to better use qualitative approaches in occupational health research and integrate them with quantitative methods.


METHODS
We systematically reviewed, selected, and adapted qualitative research methods as part of a multisite study of the predictors and outcomes of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among hospital workers in two large urban tertiary hospitals.


RESULTS
The methods selected included participant observation; informal, open-ended, and semistructured interviews with individuals or small groups; and archival study. The nature of the work and social life of the hospitals and the foci of the study all favored using more participant observation methods in the case study than initially anticipated.


CONCLUSIONS
Exploiting the full methodological spectrum of qualitative methods in occupational health is increasingly relevant. Although labor-intensive, these approaches may increase the yield of established quantitative approaches otherwise used in isolation.
Gordon
Deborah R
DR
Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Ames
Genevieve M
GM
Yen
Irene H
IH
Gillen
Marion
M
Aust
Birgit
B
Rugulies
Reiner
R
Frank
John W
JW
Blanc
Paul D
PD
D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D036301:Qualitative Research