Abstract
Background: Current treatment options for alcohol-related liver disease are limited by evidence, clinical and practice gaps. Applied health research can promote the generation of high-quality evidence by embedding experimental research designs in clinical settings. The present qualitative inquiry aims to explore healthcare providers’ experiences of conducting applied health research in alcohol-related liver disease.
Methods: A rapid qualitative approach was adopted to fulfil the exploratory nature of the present qualitative inquiry. Sixteen healthcare providers with varying roles (administrative, clinical, nursing) and formal duties (clinical, research) were interviewed. Inductive thematic analysis was employed to identify relevant themes and subthemes from the data.
Results: Three major themes emerged from the interview data. These include the motives to support alcohol-related liver disease research within clinical settings, descriptions of the research-clinical interface, and the challenges encountered while facilitating and conducting research. Identified barriers to applied health research included intraprofessional and extraprofessional role conflicts, time constraints and insufficient resource availability.
Conclusion: Although healthcare providers expressed a strong commitment towards advancing research in ARLD, structural and organisational challenges affected their involvement. These challenges underly the existing research gap in alcohol-related liver disease care. The findings favour the adoption of a community-based participatory research approach to advance evidence-making interventions in alcohol-related liver disease treatment, improve patient outcomes and foster an egalitarian research culture.