Methodological Path Supported by Software for Mapping Qualitative Indicators for Best Health Practices for the Homeless Population

Abstract

Introduction: The homeless population is a social group that demands special attention from the health services because their needs require qualified and attentive care, due to the profound social vulnerabilities. It is essential to map qualitative indicators for Best Health Practices (BHP) for this population. Goals: To know the potential and limits of webQDA for qualitative analysis of a scope review on the mapping of qualitative indicators for BHP to the homeless population. Methods: This is a qualitative study, part of a larger project about the construction of BHP indicators in Primary Health Care. It is based on the authors' experience related to the use of the webQDA software as a support for the qualitative analysis of the data collected by scope review. The 29 articles selected in the scope review were subjected to thematic content analysis to map qualitative indicators. Results: Articles in full pdf. format were inserted as internal sources in webQDA. The System of Sources allowed the storage of data from the collection in an organized manner and with easy access to information. However, it was not possible to carry out the encoding of texts whose files had two columns. We opted to use an instrument in the xlsx. format, inserted through direct coding. This process optimized the working time, since the data related to the characterization of the articles were automatically coded as descriptive codes and the other empirical information was stored in the system of the internal sources and coded through the tree codes. Conclusions: The potential of webQDA was verified in the optimization of the treatment steps and in-depth analysis of the empirical data for the mapping of qualitative indicators. As a limitation, given the two columns format of the articles, it was necessary to use the xlsx. format.