Accompanying research for DNR
The development of the training module is accompanied by research in the area.
This includes researching, classifying and sharing the content of relevant German and English-language publications from various academic journals. This, in turn, helps us put insights and impulses from other research contexts and applications, like the field of patient communication, to use in our blended learning module.
Conducting interviews
Empirical surveys constitute another important element of our research. To obtain the relevant data, we conduct interviews with so-called “death workers”. Death workers are professionals who are confronted with death on regular basis and who are in close contact with the bereaved: they include police officers, counsellors, hospice staff, undertakers, doctors, etc.
How do they prepare for delivering bad news? Which other institutions do they work with? What do they make of these partnerships?
We also conduct interviews with relatives who have lost a beloved family member. This allows us to understand the official and/or government-run processes that are put in motion after a sudden and unnatural death from the relatives’ perspective. What are their experiences? What did they consider hurtful, what helpful?
Procedure
All of our interviews are guided and qualitative. This means that the interviewer identifies relevant topics for discussion beforehand. A catalogue of theses questions helps structure the discussion. The questions are based on insights yielded by the relevant research literature and by past interviews.
That way, the catalogue of questions continues to develop and expand. However, the interview structure is far from rigid. In our half-structured interviews, the interviewees are welcome to set their own agenda . The conversation does not follow a particular structure and the prepared questions are considered a guideline at best. This allows the interview partners to explore topics and connections that we had not been aware of before but which could prove to be of vital importance to our project.
Provided the interviewees give their consent, the interviews are recorded (audio). Afterwards, what has been said is transcribed either in part or in whole. These transcripts form the basis for our analysis and help us identify relevant categories. We then compare the contents and look for possible connections, which allows us to critically appraise the materials and to generate new insights: What meaning do the police officers attach to the dead body? What kinds of meaning does it have for relatives or undertakers?
How do we use the interview materials in our course?
We use the insights yielded by the interviews in various ways. For instance, they help us identify relevant topics and aspects for inclusion in our teaching materials.
One important tenet of our blended learning course is to enable police officers to experience a change of perspective and to look at sudden and unnatural death from various angles, including that of subjective experiences. To that end, we use suitable passages from the interviews - provided the interviewees have given their consent to the material being used in that manner.
Ethics
The interviews conducted in the context of the project are all conducted on a voluntary basis. We are aware that the issue under discussion is particularly sensitive, especially since we are addressing emotionally distressing and highly personal experiences. We therefore take great care to be as respectful as possible when conducting our interviews. Ensuring transparency at all stages of the process is of the highest importance to us and the interviewees can withdraw from the project at any time without giving reasons. Sensitive information regarding names, profession or place of residence that could allow others to draw inferences about the identity of the interviewee are replaced by pseudoyms. This helps us safeguard the anonymity of our interview partners in the best possible way.