Abductive thematic analysis blends empirical observations with theoretical frameworks, fostering a continuous and dynamic exchange between research evidence and theory. It is distinct from other forms of analysis as it is underpinned by pragmatism and is flexible in its adoption of theory to best answer the research question. As a result of an interplay between theory and data, a surprising, puzzling, or anomalous finding may lead to new insights. This flexible approach to inquiry can draw from theories dependent upon what is best able to explain the data. This results in a theoretically informed explanation for empirical phenomena, which may in turn unveil unique insights about theories, making it a valuable tool across diverse research domains in medical science. The guidelines in this paper aim to illuminate abductive thematic analysis, steering the reader through each step toward maximizing novel theoretical contributions and fostering a comprehensive understanding for researchers and educators.
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In the digital age, information problem solving (IPS) competence is essential for professionals to use online information effectively. Despite its importance, starting professionals often struggle with processing and presenting information, which are critical phases during authentic IPS tasks. Therefore, higher education institutions are tasked with preparing students to navigate these complex phases of IPS after graduation. However, most previous studies have focused on the “search” and “select” phases of simple, short-duration IPS tasks, which do not reflect the complex information challenges faced in professional settings. To address this gap, this study aimed to identify and categorize the strategies higher education students currently use to process and present information for a semester-long authentic professional task. A thematic analysis of cued retrospective reporting sessions was conducted with 24 senior students while they created a website for professional practice. Students demonstrated 49 IPS strategies, which were categorized into twelve IPS activities across three generic activity phases: “process,” “synthesize,” and “create.” Within these phases, three patterns of co-occurring strategies were observed: reproductive, arranging, and elaborative. Based on these findings, existing IPS process models were empirically refined. The observed variation in strategies highlights the importance of building on students’ strengths when teaching IPS. Teaching them to adapt the strategies to various authentic task contexts could help enhance students’ IPS competence and strategic flexibility in real-world settings. Future research should explore the applicability of the updated IPS model across different authentic task contexts to refine instructional approaches further.
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The current study analyzed blogs written by four Dutch parents of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, with the aim of deepening the understanding of the parents’ concerns. Thematic analysis was conducted and five main themes were identified: Dealing with uncertainties addressed the impact of unpredictability present in the everyday lives of parents, Love and loss described the complexity of concurrently cherishing the child and grieving various types of loss, Struggling with time, energy and finances detailed imbalances and struggles related to parents’ personal resources, Feeling included in communities and society specified social consequences, and Relating to professional care services reflected on stress and support associated with professional care delivery. The study findings demonstrate how care professionals should acknowledge parents’ vulnerabilities by being aware of their existential distress and empowering parents to exercise control of family thriving.
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In the digital age, information problem solving (IPS) competence is essential for professionals to use online information effectively. Despite its importance, starting professionals often struggle with processing and presenting information, which are critical phases during authentic IPS tasks. Therefore, higher education institutions are tasked with preparing students to navigate these complex phases of IPS after graduation. However, most previous studies have focused on the “search” and “select” phases of simple, short-duration IPS tasks, which do not reflect the complex information challenges faced in professional settings. To address this gap, this study aimed to identify and categorize the strategies higher education students currently use to process and present information for a semester-long authentic professional task. A thematic analysis of cued retrospective reporting sessions was conducted with 24 senior students while they created a website for professional practice. Students demonstrated 49 IPS strategies, which were categorized into twelve IPS activities across three generic activity phases: “process,” “synthesize,” and “create.” Within these phases, three patterns of co-occurring strategies were observed: reproductive, arranging, and elaborative. Based on these findings, existing IPS process models were empirically refined. The observed variation in strategies highlights the importance of building on students’ strengths when teaching IPS. Teaching them to adapt the strategies to various authentic task contexts could help enhance students’ IPS competence and strategic flexibility in real-world settings. Future research should explore the applicability of the updated IPS model across different authentic task contexts to refine instructional approaches further.
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Many of today’s challenges that confront society are complex and dynamic and require new perspectives, new ways of looking at problems and issues, in order to be able to come to solutions that could not be found before. This process is called reframing and we suggest that one of the key stages in this process is thematic research, the search for themes that underlie these complex challenges. These themes generally turn out to be human themes, related to socio-emotional aspects of life. In this paper we report our experiences and lessons learned from a series of cases in which we experimented with various approaches to do this thematic research.
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In Dutch policy and at the societal level, informal caregivers are ideally seen as essential team members when creating, together with professionals, co-ordinated support plans for the persons for whom they care. However, collaboration between professionals and informal caregivers is not always effective. This can be explained by the observation that caregivers and professionals have diverse backgrounds and frames of reference regarding providing care. This thematic synthesis sought to examine and understandhow professionals experience collaboration with informal caregivers to strengthen the care triad. PubMed, Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, Cochrane/Central and CINAHL were searched systematically until May 2015, using specific key words and inclusion criteria. Twenty-two articles were used for thematic synthesis. Seven themes revealed different reflections by professionals illustrating the complex, multi-faceted and dynamic interfaceof professionals and informal care. Working in collaboration with informal caregivers requires professionals to adopt a different way of functioning. Specific attention should be paid to the informal caregiver, where the focus now is mainly on the client for whom they care. This is difficult to attain due to different restrictions experienced by professionals on policy and individual levels. Specific guidelines and training for the professionals are necessary in the light of the current policy changes in the Netherlands,where an increased emphasis is placed on informal care structures.
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PURPOSE: This study aims to explore the meaningful contributions of rehabilitation for participants living with persistent pain.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A phenomenological methodology was used. Thirteen purposefully selected participants, who self-identified as substantially improved from persistent pain due to rehabilitation, were interviewed in-depth. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analyses.RESULTS: Participants included three men and ten women, age ranging from 22-69 years, pain duration was 2-30 years. Seven interconnected themes were developed: 1) indication of negative pain and health care experiences, 2) supporting working alliance with healthcare professionals, 3) Pain Dialogue, 4) improved self-awareness and self-regulation, 5) different view on pain, 6) autonomy and personal growth and 7) hope and new perspective. Integration of these themes provided a framework for understanding meaningful contributions of rehabilitation from the participants' perspective.CONCLUSIONS: The study identified seven interconnected themes enhancing meaningful contributions of rehabilitation for participants who have substantially improved from persistent pain. These findings provide a novel conceptual understanding of how rehabilitation can foster recovery. The themes strongly support person-centred care, an understanding of Pain Dialogue and personal growth through the lens of the lived experience. The quality of the therapeutic relationship is considered a central vehicle for improved health outcomes.
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This study explores how households interact with smart systems for energy usage, providing insights into the field's trends, themes and evolution through a bibliometric analysis of 547 relevant literature from 2015 to 2025. Our findings discover: (1) Research activity has grown over the past decade, with leading journals recognizing several productive authors. Increased collaboration and interdisciplinary work are expected to expand; (2) Key research hotspots, identified through keyword co-occurrence, with two (exploration and development) stages, highlighting the interplay between technological, economic, environmental, and behavioral factors within the field; (3) Future research should place greater emphasis on understanding how emerging technologies interact with human, with a deeper understanding of users. Beyond the individual perspective, social dimensions also demand investigation. Finally, research should also aim to support policy development. To conclude, this study contributes to a broader perspective of this topic and highlights directions for future research development.
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Background: People with a personality disorder (PD) suffer from enduring inflexible patterns in cognitions and emotions, leading to significant subjective distress, affecting both self and interpersonal functioning. In clinical practice, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is provided to clients with a PD, and although research continuously confirms the value of DMT for many populations, to date, there is very limited information available on DMT and PD. For this study, a systematic literature review on DMT and PD was conducted to identify the content of the described DMT interventions and the main treatment themes to focus upon in DMT for PD. Methods: A systematic search was conducted across the following databases: EMBASE, MEDLINE, PubMed, WEB OF SCIENCE, PsycINFO/OVID, and SCOPUS following the PRISMA guidelines. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme for qualitative studies was used to rank the quality of the articles. The Oxford Center for Evidence-based Medicine standards were applied to determine the hierarchical level of best evidence. Quantitative content analysis was used to identify the intervention components: intended therapeutic goals, therapeutic activities leading to these goals, and suggested therapeutic effects following from these activities. A thematic synthesis approach was applied to analyze and formulate overarching themes. Results: Among 421 extracted articles, four expert opinions met the inclusion criteria. Six overarching themes were found for DMT interventions for PD: self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, integration of self, processing experiences, cognition, and expression and symbolization in movement/dance. No systematic descriptions of DMT interventions for PD were identified. A full series of intervention components could be synthesized for the themes of self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, and cognition. The use of body-oriented approaches and cognitive strategies was in favor of dance-informed approaches. Conclusions: Dance movement therapists working with PD clients focus in their interventions on body-related experiences, non-verbal interpersonal relationships, and to a lesser extent, cognitive functioning. A methodological line for all intervention components was synthesized for the themes of self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, and cognition, of importance for developing systematic intervention descriptions. Future research could focus on practitioners’ expertise in applying DMT interventions for PD to develop systematic intervention descriptions and explore the suitability of the identified themes for clinical application. Clients’ experiences could offer essential insights on how DMT interventions could address PD pathology and specific PD categories.
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Purpose: Most speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with children with developmental language disorder (DLD) do not perform language sample analysis (LSA) on a regular basis, although they do regard LSA as highly informative for goal setting and evaluating grammatical therapy. The primary aim of this study was to identify facilitators, barriers, and needs related to performing LSA by Dutch SLPs working with children with DLD. The secondary aim was to investigate whether a training would change the actual performance of LSA. Method: A focus group with 11 SLPs working in Dutch speech-language pathology practices was conducted. Barriers, facilitators, and needs were identified using thematic analysis and categorized using the theoretical domain framework. To address the barriers, a training was developed using software program CLAN. Changes in barriers and use of LSA were evaluated with a survey sent to participants before, directly after, and 3 months posttraining. Results: The barriers reported in the focus group were SLPs’ lack of knowledge and skills, time investment, negative beliefs about their capabilities, differences in beliefs about their professional role, and no reimbursement from health insurance companies. Posttraining survey results revealed that LSA was not performed more often in daily practice. Using CLAN was not the solution according to participating SLPs. Time investment remained a huge barrier. Conclusions: A training in performing LSA did not resolve the time investment barrier experienced by SLPs. User-friendly software, developed in codesign with SLPs might provide a solution. For the short-term, shorter samples, preferably from narrative tasks, should be considered.
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