Filming Patient Interviews to Demonstrate the Value of Welfare Advice in General Practice: A Strategy for the Dissemination of Project Outcomes

Abstract

The Health Plus Project funded six qualified advice workers to provide welfare advice for patients in 30 general medical practices throughout the inner city of Bradford, England. The advice workers assisted patients with a range of welfare issues particularly relating to disability benefits and housing. When patient interviews were conducted to evaluate the service, they were also videotaped for presentation at a national conference on welfare advice in primary care. Filming the interviews raised a number of issues relating to the recruitment of patients, obtaining consent, and managing the communicative dynamics of the interviews. The video was, however, perceived as a very effective means to demonstrate the impact of the service on patients, and is recommended as a potential strategy for the dissemination of project outcomes.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the role of Nick Hodgkinson (welfare rights specialist and conference organizer) for suggesting the video of patient interviews, and also for helping to edit the mass of footage for the conference. Thanks also to the advice workers and patients involved in the interviews, George Scully (Project Coordinator), and Wendy Calvert for comments on an earlier draft.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Greasley

Peter Greasley is a Lecturer in the Division of Health Care Studies, and the Graduate School, at the University of Bradford.