Non-Pharmacological Management of COPD: A Qualitative Study on the Experience of Patients with Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Running head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
Qualitative Research Methods
Name of the Student
Name of University
Author’s note

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
Non-Pharmacological Management of COPD
Research Question
A phenomenology qualitative research study to investigate the experience of a patient
with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Investigate how pulmonary rehabilitation
helps in the improving the overall quality of life of the patients with COPD?
Background
According to Ministry of Health New Zealand (2018), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disease (COPD) is a lung disease which mainly common among the population who have a past
history of smoking. Both chronic emphysema and chronic bronchitis are classified under COPD.
Milne and Beasley (2015) highlighted hat COPD is an important non-communicable disease
which has high level of prevalence, mortality and morbidity in New Zealand. It is the fourth
leading cause of death in New Zealand which amounts to 6% of deaths, as reported in 2009.
COPD is also the underlying reason of common comorbidity of hospitalization for the people
who are admitted to hospitals for other reasons and this increases the overall tenure of
hospitalization. The rate of hospitalization is twice among the Maori in comparison to non-
Maori. It is still not known to what extent this represents a higher rate of incidence of COPD
among the Maori population or a higher severity of disease or a diverse threshold for hospital
admission. However, due to its high morbidity and mortality, COPD cause a huge healthcare
burden. The main cost of care is directly associated with increased level of hospitalization (Milne
& Beasley, 2015).

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
According to Ministry of New Zealand (2018), the best way to treat COPD is to quit
smoking and to take proper medication on time in order to relive the symptoms. One of the
important pharmacologic interventions used for treating COPD is inhalation of iloprost. Inhaled
iloprost is stated to improve gas exchange and hemodynamics in patients with COPD and
secondary pulmonary hypertension (PH) (Dernaika, Beavin & Kinasewitz, 2010). However, the
double bling randomised control trial conducted by Boeck et al. (2016) highlighted that use of
iloprost failed to improve the stamina and energy of 6-minute walking distance along with
significant impairment of oxygenation while at rest. Khdour et al. (2012) majority of the
population suffering from COPD fail to abide by medication adherence which increases the
potential complication of the disease. Milne and Beasley (2015) highlighted the importance of
evidence-based interventions in order to improve the health-related quality of life of the patient
suffering from COPD in order to improve the mortality and morbidity rate. Thus keeping into
consideration of the importance of the evidence-based interventions in COPD treatment and side-
effects of pharmacologic interventions, I am fascinated and intrigued to conduct research over
the non-pharmacologic interventions in treating COPD. There are numerous quantitative
research published on the importance of pulmonary rehabilitation as non-pharmacologic
intervention in treating COPD. Many have highlighted the requirement of further research on a
larger scale but to my surprise, there is very little qualitative research on this domain. So I am
planning to conduct a qualitative research in order to study the importance of pulmonary
rehabilitation as a non-pharmacologic intervention for the treatment of COPD and subsequent
experience of the individual.

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
Patient Interview and Methods
My interviewee was had past history of smoking and is suffering from COPD and at
present is on medication and had been treated with pulmonary rehabilitation during his stay in
hospital. The patient and his family member were contacted privately through mail. The detailed
explanation about the background and the scope of the research along with my assignment and
university communication were communicated through the same mail chain. When the patient
agreed to participate in the study, a telephonic conversation was held with the patient and his
family members in order to answer to all their queries. Upon their approval, they received a
information sheet and a consent form to review via email. When the interviewee confirmed about
his participation, the consent letter was signed dully by the patient and then the interview was
commended. The consent form stated that the interviewee is participation in the interview with
full knowledge about the reason of the interview and that his name will be kept confidential and
his personal data will not be used against his consent. The scheduling of the interview was done
as per the convenience of the patient. The interview was 30 minutes long and was held at
patient’s own home. The interview was recorded through a recording app on interviewer’s
private mobile for transcript analysis. “Interview-guided approach” was employed during the
interview under which selected themed questions were covered during the interview process.
This helped the to develop question which complements the topic and helped the conversation to
continue with the flow. This approach helped the interviewee to express their thoughts and
feelings openly with more emotional bonding.
The themes covered in this interview:
 Theme 1: Treatment of COPD and side-effects of pharmacologic interventions