PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE This article was downloaded by: [Universitaetsklinikum] On: 14 July 2009 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 908307977] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Psychotherapy Research Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713663589 META-ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE STUDIES: A TOOL FOR REVIEWING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH FINDINGS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY Ladislav Timulak a a School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland First Published on: 26 November 2008 To cite this Article Timulak, Ladislav(2008)'META-ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE STUDIES: A TOOL FOR REVIEWING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH FINDINGS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY',Psychotherapy Research,99999:1, To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/10503300802477989 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10503300802477989 Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

Meta-analysis of qualitative studies: A tool for reviewing qualitative research findings in psychotherapy LADISLAV TIMULAK School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland (Received 14 April 2008 revised 8 September 2008 accepted 9 September 2008) Abstract This article focuses on the presentation of qualitative meta-analysis as a method for reviewing qualitative studies. Qualitative meta-analysis is an attempt to conduct a rigorous secondary qualitative analysis of primary qualitative findings. Its purpose*to provide a more comprehensive description of a phenomenon and an assessment of the influence of the method of investigation on findings*is discussed. The distinctive features of conducting meta-analysis approaches are presented. Several considerations important for conducting qualitative meta-analysis are also discussed. The author uses examples of the first experiences attempted with qualitative meta-analysis in the field of psychotherapy research. Keywords: experiential/existential/humanistic psychotherapy anxiety depression emotion in therapy integrative treatment models outcome research process research qualitative research methods The number of qualitative research studies in psychotherapy is growing (cf. McLeod, 2001) and with them the need for cumulative assessment of emerging research findings. The first reviews of qualitative psychotherapy research occurred in recent years (e.g., Frommer, Langenbach, & Streeck, 2004 Maione & Chenail, 1999 McLeod, 2001 Rennie, 2002, 2004). These reviews used a traditional narrative format. Recently, qualitative meta-analysis (Timulak, 2004, 2007), a more formal method of cumulative assessment, was presented. The advantage of such a method lies in its empirical approach, which can bring further rigor to reviewing qualitative studies. This study, in addition to pre- vious work (Timulak, 2004, 2007) that presented research using the method of meta-analysis, focuses on the methodological aspects of qualitative meta- analysis and practical steps involved in conducting qualitative meta-analysis. Qualitative Meta-Analysis The basic idea of qualitative meta-analysis is to provide a concise and comprehensive picture of findings across qualitative studies that investigate the same general research topic. As Schreiber, Crooks, and Stern (1997) propose, qualitative meta-analysis is characterized by ������the aggregating of a group of studies for the purposes of discovering the essential elements and translating the results into an end product that transforms the original results into a new conceptualization������ (p. 314). Another qualitative meta-analysis theoretician, Finfgeld (2003), charac- terized qualitative meta-analysis as ������a new and integrative interpretation of findings that is more substantive than those resulting from individual investigations������ (p. 894). Qualitative meta-analysis follows the same logic and objective as quantitative meta-analysis, namely to assess a field of study beyond one particular study. However, this method considers only qualitative or, as pointed out later, at least partially qualitative studies. Although quantitative meta-analysis aims to bring more precise estimates of ������real������ parameters of quantitative outcomes reported in primary studies, qualitative meta-analysis attempts to conduct a rigorous secondary qualitative analysis of primary qualitative findings. The idea of qualitative meta-analysis appears originally to have been formally proposed by Stern and Harris (1985 cf. Schreiber et al., 1997), but very influential, considering the citations that have appeared in published qualitative meta-analyses, appears to be work on meta-ethnography by Noblit and Hare (1988). However, as Paterson, Thorne, Canam, and Jillings (2001) point out, some parallel Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ladislav Timulak, 2004, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland. E-mail: timulakl@tcd.ie Psychotherapy Research 2008, 1 10, iFirst article ISSN 1050-3307 print/ISSN 1468-4381 online # 2008 Society for Psychotherapy Research DOI: 10.1080/10503300802477989