Drowning in papers and references and feeling uncertain!
I have been exploring my topic of interest, respite care for fulltime unpaid caregivers, as you can see from my mind-map below.
I am particularly interested in looking at the effect of the respite care on the caregiver. At this point I am very interested in exploring how carers feel after they have had respite and a break from caring – what it means to them, and as such I am drawn to the idea of doing some qualitative research. However, emerging findings suggest that there is very little quantitative evidence to show how effective respite care is and an important gap in the evidence base. There does seem to be more qualitative evidence out there. My early readings and searching of the literature also suggests that much of the evidence/literature concerns carers of those with dementia, which makes me wonder why caregivers of people with other conditions have not been explored as much, as they have needs and there are also considerable numbers of them. I am interested in exploring this wider picture of caring, which would fit with my view of caring as the charity I work for is interested in all unpaid carers.
I have found identifying relevant papers more challenging than I thought (search terms used listed at end). At first it seemed to me that there were few papers that I could find that satisfied the needs of my topic, and although I still feel that is the case, it is also feels quite overwhelming and confusing looking at reference lists at the end of papers and trying to identify suitable alternative papers. I feel like I could end up with a list of hundreds, and yet, perhaps still few of them will meet my needs. A lot of the papers also seem dated to me, more than 10 years old and I am skeptical of their value as a result. I spoke with a former colleague of mine, Dr Emma Carduff, who has done considerable research on carers and she agrees that there is a lack of research in this area and that it is crying out for more. It means I am spending a great deal more time searching than reading I had planned.
I am tracking the papers I have identified and recording them in a matrix (see below) with notes for those that I have included in my final 5 papers for this week’s readings.
Search Terms used:
Carer
Caregiver
Informal Caregiver
Family carer
Respite
Short break
Day care
Residential care
Effect
Impact
Experience
Hello Richard,
Thank you for sharing your second blog.
There are a couple of valuable observations in your blog. Firstly, there is a lack of research in this area. Secondly, most studies are qualitative research focusing on carers of people with dementia. As a researcher, you would reflect on these observations and try to address them. Do you have any immediate responses to these questions?
Also, although most of the literature focuses on dementia, it would be still useful to review these studies and note their aims and research objectives, methods, and key findings. In particular, it is interesting to reflect on the extent to which these findings are transferable to other contexts.
I understand your concerns about the literature search, but I am afraid this is part of the research process – defining and refining your literature search strategy and going through the references, titles, and abstracts of potentially relevant papers. Regarding the revision of your search words, you may find it helpful to include the key words used in the most relevant papers (these words are normally listed after the abstract). In week 3, you will explore and use other tools to narrow down your research question and the search strategy.
Finally, creating a file for your notes and reflections on the most relevant papers is a great way to keep your records in order. It will not only help to develop your research ideas now, but it will certainly come in handy when you start writing the literature review for your dissertation project next year.
Evgeniya.