Abstract
Elizabeth Koldoff has focused on an important aspect of health gain through the undertaking of physical activity to prevent or reduce further physical complications and the likelihood of longer-term ill health in adolescents who have cerebral palsy.
I welcome this paper as it makes a significant contribution to the emerging field of studies in children’s and young people’s health. Owing to its focus on coping with a physical disability, this pilot study highlights key concepts emanating from the coded and analysed interviews held with five parents from various social backgrounds, all of whom have a teenager with cerebral palsy. Five is a small number of research participants, but for a pilot study this is adequate providing the initial data yield is sufficiently rich to enable a depth of theoretical concepts through the mining of that data. The subsequent data handling and associated audit data trails ultimately demonstrate data saturation.
The elicited concepts might be seen by some as perhaps predictable in that the statements of ‘My child is unique’, ‘It is not about winning, it is about being able to participate’, ‘Friends motivate my child’, ‘We can figure it out’ and ‘I wish I could do more with my teen’ could also relate to socially passed-on and educationally reinforced mores, meaning the customs and values by a particular group in a defined cultural setting. However, the significance here is that the research design is that of a descriptive, focused interview with the parental responses being carefully coded, themed and descriptively labelled. Some researchers might baulk at such a focused interview approach, being of the opinion that pure qualitative research should not stray into the realms of introducing any form of structured logical positivism, but in keeping with the overarching research tenet that a research design must be fit for the purpose of the inquiry being conducted, I consider that this paper demonstrates a rigorous research approach from its inception to its conclusion. In doing so, the paper meets its stated aims and reveals the practical and financial constraints the parents face.
Ethically, the paper is sound in that the research purpose was to elicit the views of the parents, and not the views of the adolescents. The design of the study is to do just that, elicit the views of the parents; the design and conduct of the study clearly show that each individual adolescent is not being judged in any way. However, for other researchers considering doing similar work it is advisable to obtain the informed voluntary consent of the parties whose circumstances are at the centre of the study to prevent or minimise any misunderstanding on this point.
Koldoff acknowledges that the research findings for this pilot are therefore one dimensional and express an option for a possible future study on eliciting the views of the adolescents and comparing and contrasting these with the parental responses. I would like to see such an additional future study as the two studies, side-by-side, would complement and inform the work of each other.