Even if this is possible we are left wondering whether any change for the better is due to the group experience or to other factors which have contributed to increased clinical skills and personal growth. Again a control group is needed in order to satisfy the criteria of evidence based research. If this is still true, considerable numbers would be needed to demonstrate any significant quantitative effect. Perhaps it would be more useful and less frustrating to consider the methods of qualitative research. This approach is much more helpful in finding answers to questions about why and how things change in people's lives.
Qualitative researchers interview their subjects without scales and checklists.
They listen to what people have to say in a semi-structured conversation. They are interested in everything, and the answers they record may be the basis of new and important questions. Qualitative research on Balint doctors and the patients might be a more fruitful line of enquiry for us to pursue. In this issue of the Journal of the Balint Society we are publishing two papers which illustrate the qualitative approach to Balint research. In a paper from the United States, Dr Michael Floyd and colleagues have studied a Balint group for rural family doctors and nurse practitioners in the state of Tennessee.