Drawing out experience: Arts-informed qualitative research exploring public perceptions of community pharmacy services

Abstract

In many countries around the world, people go to community pharmacies to receive primary health care services. Awareness of public views and experiences may help to identify opportunities for greater uptake of primary health care services provided by pharmacists and ways to improve care. Arts-informed research offers the possibility to provide additional insights into public perceptions of community pharmacy services. The purpose of this exploratory study is to describe the process and results of an arts-informed research project using an adapted version of the draw and write technique in combination with focus group interviews to explore public perceptions of community pharmacy services. The draw and write technique was introduced as an introductory activity to evoke a visual expression of participants' perceptions and experiences with community pharmacy services. Participants were invited to answer the question, "What do community pharmacy services mean to you?" in the form of a drawing and words. They were then prompted to discuss their drawings in a focus group interview. This approach resulted in rich visual and textual data. Analysis consisted of a combination of manual sorting of the visual data and examination of the focus group interview data that were transcribed verbatim, anonymized, and analyzed using an inductive comparative approach. NVIVO version 12 software was used to code and manage all data. Use of the draw and write technique elicited initial, fresh perspectives about community pharmacy services prior to discussions with participants in the focus group interviews. This approach allowed researchers to access a diverse range of experiences and perspectives.

Keywords: Arts-informed research; Community pharmacy services; Draw and write technique; Public perceptions; Qualitative research.