[india-drug] Focus Group Discussions

[Sunitha Srinivas <sunitha9srinivas@yahoo.com>]

Focus Group Discussions
------------------------

In order to identify drug use problems in the community we need to
learn about a number of issues:

1.	What are the community?s common drug use practices?
2.	To what extent are these common drug use patterns rational (defined
as safe, effective, affordable and needed)? 
3.	What do health workers and people living in the community consider
to be problems in drug use? 

Here is an example of a Focus Group Discussion used during the training
of Promoting Rational Drug Use in Bangakok, 2002. It would be
interesting if similar studies done in India can be shared amongst
ourselves.


Focus Group Discussions 
Conducted in a Philippines, community-based study

The following group discussion guide for discussion with mothers of
small children was used in a community drug use study in the
Philippines. The researchers used focus group discussions to elicit the
mothers' ideas about drugs. These ideas are being used in the
development of educational materials.  

To encourage a lively discussion, the moderator starts the discussion
with a sorting game. Twelve popular medications (herbal and
pharmaceutical) are put on a table and the participants are asked to
sort the medications into piles. (The popular medications have been
elicited from key informant interviews done prior to the focus group
discussions). The recorder notes the comments made during the sorting.

1.	The respondents are then asked why medications have been grouped
together and in what way they differ from other medications.

2.	The interviewer then asks the participants if they use each of these
medicines. They are then asked for its uses and their experiences with
it.

After this exercise, a different point of departure is taken: the
area?s most common illnesses. 

3.	The interviewer first asks what common illnesses are in the area. 
She or he writes the answers on cards; and probes for additional,
common disorders.

4.	For each of the mentioned disorders, she or he then asks what the
mothers do to treat it. The interviewer uses flashcards to indicate the
disorder that is the subject of discussion.

5.	For each type of treatment mentioned, she or he then asks why the
treatment is used and where it is obtained.







The INDIA-DRUG discussion group is a partnership between SATELLIFE
(www.healthnet.org), WHO Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy
(www.who.ch), and the Delhi Society for the Promotion of the
Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD) in India.

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