title: Qualitative Research in Palliative Care: Applications to Clinical Trials Work.
abstract: While vast opportunities for using qualitative methods exist within palliative care research, few studies provide practical advice for researchers and clinicians as a roadmap to identify and utilize such opportunities.
  
  
  
  To provide palliative care clinicians and researchers descriptions of qualitative methodology applied to innovative research questions relative to palliative care research and define basic concepts in qualitative research. Body: We describe three qualitative projects as exemplars to describe major concepts in qualitative analysis of early palliative care: (1) a descriptive analysis of clinician documentation in the electronic health record, (2) a thematic content analysis of palliative care clinician focus groups, and (3) a framework analysis of audio-recorded encounters between patients and clinicians as part of a clinical trial.
  
  
  
  This study provides a foundation for undertaking qualitative research within palliative care and serves as a framework for use by other palliative care researchers interested in qualitative methodologies.
authors.affiliation: 1 Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Christopher T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: 2 Harvard College , Cambridge, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Avia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tadmor
authors.affiliation: 3 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center , Boston, Massachusetts.|4 National Cancer Center Hospital East , Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan .|5 Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine , Tokyo, Japan .
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.affiliation: 3 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: James J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.affiliation: 3 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Emily R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.affiliation: 3 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eusebio
authors.affiliation: 1 Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts.|3 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Vicki A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: 1 Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts.|3 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Jennifer S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Temel
authors.affiliation: 1 Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts.|3 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Greer
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hagan
authors.affiliation: 1 Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts.|3 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Elyse R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research / Q000592:standards*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000592:standards*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*
keywords: clinical trials work; palliative care; qualitative research