Index

All project data is contained within the NVivo file Òpharmaceuticalisation of sleep and wakefulness in Britain since 2000Ó.

Focus Groups

Students (SFG1), 3 participants, held on 17.08.11
Sleep apnoea focus group 1 (SAFG1), 4 participants, held on 08.10.11
Sleep apnoea focus group 2 (SAFG2, 4 participants, held on 08.10.11
Sleep apnoea focus group 3 (SAFG3), 5 participants, held on 29.10.11
Narcolepsy focus group 1 (NFG1), 9 participants, held on 12.11.11
Narcolepsy focus group 2 (NFG2), 4 participants, held on 14.04.12
Students focus group 2 (SFG2), 7 participants, held on 21.02.12
Students focus group 3 (SFG3), 3 participants, held on 28.02.12
Primary Care Patients - Hypnotic users focus group 1 (PCFG1), 4 participants, held on 19.03.12
Primary Care Patients - Hypnotic users focus group 2 (PCFG2), 6 participants, held on 01.03.12
Ambulance Service focus group 1 (ASFG1), 3 participants, held on 21.02.12
Ambulance Service focus group 2 (ASFG2), 4 participants, held on 28.02.12
Ambulance Service focus group 3 (ASFG3), 2 participants, held on 01.03.12
Retired persons focus group 1 (RFG1), 7 participants held on 29.11.12
Retired persons focus group 2 (RFG2), 4 participants, held on 13.12.12
Retired persons focus group 3 (RFG3), 4 participants, held on 17.01.13
Students - medical focus group 4 (SFG4), 3 participants, held on 05.03.13
Parents of young children focus group 1 (PFG1), 6 participants, held on 14.03.13
Primary Care Patients - Hypnotic users focus group 3 (PCFG3), 2 participants,held on 25.06.13
Parents of young children focus group 2 (PFG2), 4 participants, held on 16.11.13
Academics focus group 1 (AFG1), 5 participants, held on 09.09.13
Academics focus group 2 (AFG2), 3 participants, held on 18.09.13
Lawyers focus group1 (LFG1), 3 participants, held on 10.02.14


Total number of participants - 99



Interviews

General Practitioners (GP)

GP1, held on 23.04.13
GP2, held on 09.05.13
GP3, held on 21.05.13
GP4, held on 30.05.13
GP5, held on 07.06.13
GP6, held on 01.07.13
GP7, held on 02.07.13


Expert interviews (EI)


EI1, Sleep clinician, held on 30.08.13
EI2, Sleep scientist/ clinician, held on 10.09.13
EI3, Sleep clinician, held on 17.09.13
EI4, Sleep clinician, held on 12.11.13
EI5, Sleep charity representative, held on 29.10.13
EI6, Ethicist, held on 29.11.13
EI7, Psychopharmacologist, held on 28.10.13
EI8, Psychopharmacologist, held on 13.01.14
EI9, Mental health charity representative, held on 27.01.13
EI10, Sleep scientist, held on 14.05.14


Total interviews: 17


Further information

Ethical Review and approval of the study: All paperwork for ethical review of 
the project was submitted to the NHS REC in April 2011. This included the 
research protocol, the necessary ethics forms and other research materials. Full 
ethical approval for the project was granted on 27th May 2011.

Transcription: All of the focus group recordings and interview recordings were 
transcribed and anonymised. Anonymisation of the data involved replacing real 
names of people, organisations and locations with pseudonyms and removing 
any potential identifying information from the text. Focus group participants 
were assigned a code relating to the focus group they belonged to, their gender 
and the order they spoke during the focus group. For example, the first female 
participant to speak during the first sleep apnoea focus group held was assigned 
the code SA FG1, F1 corresponding to Ð Sleep Apnoea Focus Group 1, Female 1. 
All of those interviewed were assigned a code beginning with GP (General 
Practitioner) or EI (Expert Interview) followed by a number corresponding to 
the order they were interviewed in. For example, the first general practitioner to 
be interviewed was assigned the code GP1. 

Data storage and organisation: In addition to recording and transcribing the 
proceedings of each focus group, we have took detailed field notes. Transcripts 
and field notes were uploaded in plain text (.txt) format into an NVivo 9 database 
for storage, filing and coding. Focus group transcripts were uploaded as 
ÔInternalÕ documents. Each set of field notes was uploaded as ÔMemoÕ and 
electronically linked to the corresponding focus group transcript.  All study-level 
documentation (field notes and transcripts) were annotated as they were added 
to the study database. Contextual information is included in an initial paragraph 
in each document or in the ÔDocument PropertiesÕ box linked to each document 
(which can be accessed by right clicking on the link to the document in the 
document listing). This annotation provides: a description of the data collection 
methods, an explanation of how data were created or digitised (date of recording 
and transcription), basic demographic information about the participants (e.g. 
age range, gender) and any manipulations that may have taken place (e.g. 
anonymisation of names and places).


Coding: The data transcripts were coded using the software programme NVivo 9. 
We began by grouping data extracts together based on their main themes and 
developing a coding frame based on these emergent themes to identify major 
topics and issues of interest. Each of the main ÔparentÕ nodes contains ÔchildÕ 
nodes that were assigned names on an emergent basis in order to further 
describe the data. Some of the child nodes were further sub-divided and contain 
child nodes of their own. Data was coded at multiple nodes, as appropriate.

Analysis: We identified several broad themes of importance in the focus group 
data. 

These are detailed below. 

1.	Expectations around and experiences of sleep 

*	Expectations around sleep and healthÐ what sleep is for, what good 
sleep is, how important sleep is to health
*	Experiences of sleep and sleepiness Ð how these differ in and between 
different groups and social contexts
*	Sleep problems Ð seeking medical advice, recognition, definitions, 
diagnosis and social impacts
*	Sleep and health/mental health


2.	Experiences of medicating sleep and wakefulness

*	Managing sleep and wakefulness in daily life ÐRange of therapeutic advice 
and medicative forms incl. Non- pharmaceutical strategies and treatments
*	Relationships with medicationsÐ accepting/resisting medicine
*	Side effects of medication
*	Addiction, reliance and dependency
*	Benefits of medicated sleep/ wakefulness
*	Medication vs. non-pharmaceutical treatments 
*	Altering treatment regimens Ð substituting medicine, intermittent use, 
*	Access to medication Ð prescriptions, sharing tablets, Online

3.	Attitudes towards the uses and abuses of sleep medication

*	Moral judgements and discourses used to evaluate drug use 
*	Sleeping pills and stigma
*	Ambivalence
*	Non-medical/ lifestyle uses Ðsocial and ethical issues

4.	Future medicines and future uses of sleep medicines

*	Expectations and visions of the future

Sources to consult

Project website - http://www.sleepandwakefulnessresearch.ac.uk