Understanding why quality circles work in primary health care: a realist approach about how, why and under what circumstances they work

<p>Quality circles and similarly structured small groups are commonly used in primary health care in Europe to reflect on and improve standard practice over time. They are a complex social intervention in the fast-changing system of primary health care. Many controlled trials and reviews have...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rohrbasser, A
Other Authors: Wong, G
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
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author Rohrbasser, A
author2 Wong, G
author_facet Wong, G
Rohrbasser, A
author_sort Rohrbasser, A
collection OXFORD
description <p>Quality circles and similarly structured small groups are commonly used in primary health care in Europe to reflect on and improve standard practice over time. They are a complex social intervention in the fast-changing system of primary health care. Many controlled trials and reviews have documented their positive effects on behaviour change. As effect sizes vary, I sought to understand how and why quality circles achieved their results by using a realist approach.</p> <p>I conducted a co-inquiry with stakeholders to determine their interests and preferences concerning the direction of my research, and their mental model of quality circles, which I used as a framework for my realist review. After identifying relevant papers and selecting and extracting appropriate data, I labelled and analysed configurations of context and mechanism that shaped the outcomes of quality circle work. From these, I built propositions to develop a programme theory underlying quality circles, then refined and consolidated this in sequential interviews with participants, facilitators and managers of quality circles.</p> <p>The programme theory suggests that government trust in GPs’ ability to achieve quality improvement, with appropriate professional and administrative support, will motivate them to participate in quality circle work. Professional support includes training in relevant techniques, access to educational materials and personal performance data. Administrative support includes protected time, an appropriate venue and financial resources for meetings. Group dynamics are at the core of the process. Facilitators help participants to build social bonds and mutual trust so that the group becomes a safe environment where participants link insights to everyday practice to develop their professional role. They reflect on their personal experiences, add information from evidence-based or personal performance data and thus create new concepts for improving their practice. With repetition, they gain confidence in their quality improvement skills and can put their innovations into practice.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:010282a4-a5a2-4f92-99c2-170fe4a22d082022-03-26T08:32:33ZUnderstanding why quality circles work in primary health care: a realist approach about how, why and under what circumstances they workThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:010282a4-a5a2-4f92-99c2-170fe4a22d08Quality CirclePrimary Health CareKnwoledge TranslationQuality ImprovementContinuous Professional DevelopmentEnglishHyrax Deposit2020Rohrbasser, AWong, GHarris, JMickan, S<p>Quality circles and similarly structured small groups are commonly used in primary health care in Europe to reflect on and improve standard practice over time. They are a complex social intervention in the fast-changing system of primary health care. Many controlled trials and reviews have documented their positive effects on behaviour change. As effect sizes vary, I sought to understand how and why quality circles achieved their results by using a realist approach.</p> <p>I conducted a co-inquiry with stakeholders to determine their interests and preferences concerning the direction of my research, and their mental model of quality circles, which I used as a framework for my realist review. After identifying relevant papers and selecting and extracting appropriate data, I labelled and analysed configurations of context and mechanism that shaped the outcomes of quality circle work. From these, I built propositions to develop a programme theory underlying quality circles, then refined and consolidated this in sequential interviews with participants, facilitators and managers of quality circles.</p> <p>The programme theory suggests that government trust in GPs’ ability to achieve quality improvement, with appropriate professional and administrative support, will motivate them to participate in quality circle work. Professional support includes training in relevant techniques, access to educational materials and personal performance data. Administrative support includes protected time, an appropriate venue and financial resources for meetings. Group dynamics are at the core of the process. Facilitators help participants to build social bonds and mutual trust so that the group becomes a safe environment where participants link insights to everyday practice to develop their professional role. They reflect on their personal experiences, add information from evidence-based or personal performance data and thus create new concepts for improving their practice. With repetition, they gain confidence in their quality improvement skills and can put their innovations into practice.</p>
spellingShingle Quality Circle
Primary Health Care
Knwoledge Translation
Quality Improvement
Continuous Professional Development
Rohrbasser, A
Understanding why quality circles work in primary health care: a realist approach about how, why and under what circumstances they work
title Understanding why quality circles work in primary health care: a realist approach about how, why and under what circumstances they work
title_full Understanding why quality circles work in primary health care: a realist approach about how, why and under what circumstances they work
title_fullStr Understanding why quality circles work in primary health care: a realist approach about how, why and under what circumstances they work
title_full_unstemmed Understanding why quality circles work in primary health care: a realist approach about how, why and under what circumstances they work
title_short Understanding why quality circles work in primary health care: a realist approach about how, why and under what circumstances they work
title_sort understanding why quality circles work in primary health care a realist approach about how why and under what circumstances they work
topic Quality Circle
Primary Health Care
Knwoledge Translation
Quality Improvement
Continuous Professional Development
work_keys_str_mv AT rohrbassera understandingwhyqualitycirclesworkinprimaryhealthcarearealistapproachabouthowwhyandunderwhatcircumstancestheywork