Evaluation of a multi-modal grounded theory approach to explore patients' daily coping with breathlessness due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Conventional methods have not yet succeeded in capturing the complexity of how people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) cope with breathlessness during daily living. We used a multi-modal grounded theory (GT) approach to investigate coping. In this paper, we describe and evaluate the multi-modal GT approach, which encompasses videos of daily life activity, interviews, medical history, demographics, self-rated sensation of breathlessness, and physiological measurements. A formative evaluation was conducted according to the criteria that the data collection should strengthen the participants' ability to remember and narrate how they cope with breathlessness; capture the multidimensional aspects involved in coping with breathlessness; encompass tools for collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, providing the opportunity to generate, synchronize, and combine data; and be ethically justifiable. The approach should also be consistent with the GT methodology of generating a theory. Striving to develop and perfect the multi-modal GT approach was time-consuming. Apart from this practical challenge, the multimodal GT approach met all evaluation criteria. This approach has the potential to generate new knowledge and may become an important methodological contribution towards understanding the multidimensionality of coping with breathlessness.