North America's Overdose Epidemic, Its Driving Forces, And Its Notable Points of Impact

Qualitative Critique
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Qualitative Critique
The research article titled "Gendered violence and overdose prevention sites: a rapid ethnographic study during an overdose epidemic in Vancouver, Canada," written by Boyd, Collins, Mayer, Maher, Kerr & McNeil (2018), focuses on North America's overdose epidemic, its driving forces, and its notable points of impact specifically gendered violence and harm among women who use drugs.
1 Statement of the Phenomenon of Interest
What is the phenomenon of interest, and is it stated to the reader? What is the justification for using a qualitative method? What are the philosophical underpinnings of the research method?
With the study, Boyd et al. (2018) seek to study further the nuances and complexities of the experiences of women who use drugs in overdose prevention sites in Vancouver. These nuances, Boyd et al. (2018) posits, are brought about by a confluence of different factors, including interpersonal (such as gendered violence), structural (such as criminalization and poverty), and socio-cultural (such as racializing discourse and gendered norms).
Boyd et al. (2018) utilized a qualitative analysis through rapid ethnographic fieldwork. Data was collected through 185 hours of naturalistic observation and in-depth interview methods. The researcher describes ethnographic research as involving ongoing engagement with the social worlds of participants and a critical method for capturing lived experienced such as the complexities of embodied vulnerability. Boyd et al. (2018) state that rapid ethnography draws is a pragmatic strategy used to address urgent situations and is a methodological tool proven to be valuable and essential, especially in public health emergencies. Boyd et al. (2018) further explain that rapid ethnography has a status of long-standing use in drug-related research. Thus, with the reasons provided, the researchers seem to submit a two-prong justification for qualitative analysis through rapid ethnographic fieldwork: tradition in their specific context of the study and necessity in light of the emergencies being experienced in overdose prevention sites.
2 Purpose - What is the purpose of the study? What is the projected significance of the work to nursing?
Boyd et al. (2018) seek to fill in gaps in the body of knowledge regarding the safety of women who use drugs in overdose prevention sites. They point out that despite the availability of evidence that the experiences of women who use drugs in these sites are markedly different from men, little response has been made in the public health sector to address these issues. By shedding light on the issue, public health reform and intervention opportunities arise to integrate nursing theory and practice in overdose prevention sites as related to gendered violence during overdose epidemics.
Since the research delves into the issues in a critical area of public health and health in general, nurses may adopt strategies and ways to better cater to patients in this area by better understanding the realities of women using drugs in overdose prevention sites demographic. Qualitative research employing a rapid ethnographic study may thus improve established nursing theories and services provided on the ground. Subsequently, there are also more possibilities for addressing the issues raised by participants and promptly improving nursing services.
3 Is the method used to collect data compatible with the research? Is the method adequate to address the phenomenon of interest? If a particular approach guides the inquiry, does the researcher complete the study according to the processes described?
As discussed earlier, Boyd et al. (2018) applied a qualitative study's rapid ethnographic framework approach to examine the issues in question and gather data related to them. The authors explain that a rapid ethnographic framework gravitates mainly around capturing participants' lived experiences. The researchers conducted approximately 185 hours of ethnographic fieldwork, including site observation, naturalistic observations, structured and unstructured interviews, and other forms of interaction with users in overdose prevention sites and women who use drugs. The participants' identity was protected by removing identifying information in the gathered data. Ethical approval was obtained from the Providence Healthcare/University of British Columbia Research Ethics Board.
The authors analyzed the collected data thematically through NVivo, a qualitative data analysis software program (Boyd et al., 2018). There was no express statement as to the saturation of data. Considering the research topic and the authors' objectives as propounded in the study, utilizing a rapid ethnographic framework is appropriate. It perhaps even outweighs other methods in terms of significance and compatibility. Gendered and racialized violence, harassment, and other issues experienced by women who use drugs can be better understood through qualitative rather than cold, complex data collected for quantitative research. The opportunity to connect and interact with the study respondents within the selected setting is much more critical to the study’s objectives as it enabled the researchers to capture the lived experiences of the selected demographic. Hence, staying true to the data was achieved with this type of collection and analysis method because it gave life to the data and reflected the actual events.
4 What type of sampling is used? Is it appropriate given the particular method? Are the informants who were chosen appropriate to inform the research?
The participants themselves were recruited by team members directly from overdose prevention sites during the ethnographic fieldwork. These participants were interviewed by a team member either on-site or at an accessible research office. Interviews were conducted with 64 soci...