Makleff, S., Garduño, J., Zavala, R.I., Valades, J., Barindelli, F., Cruz, M., & Marston, C. (2021). Evaluating complex interventions using qualitative longitudinal research: A case study of understanding pathways to violence prevention . Qualitative Health Research. 31(9), 1724-1737.

Abstract  

Qualitative longitudinal research may help understand people’s changing experiences during interventions: dynamics which are often overlooked in evaluations. We present a case study of a partner violence prevention program where we conducted 33 repeat interviews every one to two months with nine participants, and analyzed participant trajectories. We found that participants’ relationship-related beliefs and intentions changed, promoting self-reflection that in turn helped alter their relationship dynamics. Our qualitative longitudinal approach allowed us to detect and track specific examples of change, identify influential elements of the program, and gather contextualized data about participants’ lived experiences. Qualitative longitudinal research provided evidence of gradual shifts on the pathways to violence prevention. Long term effects of violence prevention interventions are very hard to measure directly. We argue that a qualitative longitudinal approach provides a way to measure subtle changes that can serve as proxies for longer term impacts.