Meta-synthesis Of Case Studies Research Articles

Interpersonal dynamics and therapeutic relationship in patients with functional somatic syndromes: A metasynthesis of case studies.

Patients with functional somatic syndromes (FSS) often display troubled relationships with health care providers, psychotherapists, and significant others. Research shows that patients' history of trauma, attachment disturbances, and mentalization deficits may result in the emergence of maladaptive interpersonal patterns, which may later contribute to the onset and maintenance of FSS, "doctor hopping," and dropout in psychotherapy. As the nature and therapeutic consequences of such maladaptive interpersonal patterns in FSS cannot be understood sufficiently by quantitative methods alone, there is a need for in-depth qualitative research. To address this issue, we conducted a metasynthesis of 23 published case studies of patients with FSS from various psychotherapeutic orientations. Results show that patients with FSS from our sample perceived others as unreliable, that is, unavailable, overcontrolling, and overprotective. To adapt to such unreliable others, patients attempted to please and to control them. Patients also suppressed their emotional awareness and expression. Although alexithymia could also play a role, the primary reason for emotional avoidance seemed to be interpersonal in nature, that is, patients were avoiding negative emotions in order to please and control the unreliable others. The onset and worsening of FSS were associated with both interpersonal and physical triggers. Showing signs of physical or emotional distress led to more rejection, overcontrol, and overprotection from unreliable others, which could create a "vicious circle." Our results suggest that offering a more interpersonal perspective on emotion regulation difficulties would be beneficial for patients with FSS, counselors, psychotherapists, and other health care professionals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Supplemental Material for Interpersonal Dynamics and Therapeutic Relationship in Patients With Functional Somatic Syndromes: A Metasynthesis of Case Studies

Supplemental Material for Interpersonal Dynamics and Therapeutic Relationship in Patients With Functional Somatic Syndromes: A Metasynthesis of Case Studies

Risk and Organizational ambidexterity: a meta-synthesis of a case study and a framework

Organizational ambidexterity arises as an organization’s ability to employ efforts on contradictory goals, such as exploration and exploitation for longterm success and long-lasting performance. In addition, the organization faces risks inherent in the management of its administrative capacity. However, to date, we did not find a systematic qualitative-research review on risk and organizational ambidexterity. This paper fills this gap by systematically reviewing existing qualitative case studies on risk and organizational ambidexterity published in peer-reviewed journals. To fulfill this objective, we used a meta-synthesis of qualitative synthesis case studies in order to identify possible cause and effect relationships between the constructs and to propose a theoretical model. The results showed that risk and uncertainty influence the way the organization invests resources in exploration or in exploitation. Second, the findings indicated that risk moderates the direct effect of exploration and exploitation on performance and on decision making, amplifying or reducing their effects. Third, the framework suggests that risk has a direct effect on organizational performance, reducing it, or influencing strategic decision-making (ranging from intuitive to rational decision).

Seeing the quality improvement forest through the quality improvement trees: A meta-synthesis of case studies in Florida and Georgia.

Objectives:To identify important characteristics of quality improvement applications for population health and healthcare settings and to explore the use of quality improvement as a model for implementing and disseminating evidence-based or best practices.Methods:A meta-synthesis was used to examine published quality improvement case studies. A total of 10 published studies that were conducted in Florida and Georgia were examined and synthesized using meta-synthesis (a qualitative research methodology) for meaningful insights and lessons learned using defined meta-synthesis inclusion criteria. The primary focus of the analysis and synthesis were the reported processes and findings that included responses to structured questioning in addition to emergent results from direct observation and semi-structured open-ended interviewing.Results:The key insights for the use of quality improvement in public health and healthcare settings included (1) the essential importance of data monitoring, analysis, and data-based decision making; (2) the need to focus on internal mutable factors within organizations; (3) the critical role of quality improvement team group dynamics; (4) the value of using a quality improvement collaborative or multi-clinic quality council/committee for sharing and comparing performance on key metrics; and (5) the need to identify a quality improvement approach and methods for clarification as a structured quality improvement intervention.Conclusion:In addition to the advantages of using quality improvement to enhance or improve healthcare and public health services, there is also potential for quality improvement to serve as a model for enhancing the adoption of evidence-based practices within the context of dissemination and implementation research.

Environmental science and policy: A meta-synthesis of case studies on boundary organizations and spanning processes

AbstractWe conducted a meta-synthesis of published qualitative articles to better understand how features and strategies of boundary organizations and spanning processes influence whether environmental science was utilized in politically oriented outcomes. Meta-synthesis is a peer-reviewed research technique which is becoming more prolific as disciplines compare qualitative research studies and generalize qualitative knowledge. In this work, thirty-nine published case studies were analysed through a systematic grounded theory approach and thirty-nine structured interviews were performed with authors to validate the results. Overall, forty-seven boundary spanning variables were evaluated using disaggregated statistics to determine correlation with policy outcomes. Our results develop the possibility that successful boundary spanning linkages may be less about utilizing formal boundary organizations and more about fostering the process through which science and policy are intermingled.