Using mixed‐methods research to study the quality of life of coeliac women

Aims and objectives To research the quality of life of Spanish women with coeliac disease. Background Women with coeliac disease express lower quality of life than men with coeliac disease. Design Explanatory sequential approach using mixed methods and with a gender perspective. Methods The research was carried out between May and July 2015. In its quantitative stage, it aimed to determine the health‐related quality of life in a representative sample (n = 1097) of Spanish adult women with coeliac disease using a specific questionnaire named Coeliac Disease‐Quality of Life. In its qualitative phase, it aimed to describe the life experiences of a woman with coeliac disease in a qualitative manner by means of interviews (n = 19) with a semistructured script. Quantitative data were analysed using spss version 20 and presented in descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were analysed using the directed content analysis. Results The quantitative process gave us the values on the four aspects studied: dysphoria, disease limitations, health problems and inadequate treatment. These aspects allowed us to create a qualitative process, based on which we generated an interview, from which four larger categories emerged. These categories were feelings at diagnosis, limitations in day‐to‐day life, social perceptions of the disease and personal meanings of coeliac disease. Thus, both phases of our project are totally connected. There was a high level of congruence between quantitative scores and narratives. Conclusion This study shows us the strong points of mixed‐methods strategy in health sciences. The mixed‐methods strategy gave us a wider view of the experience of women living with coeliac disease. In our case, a strength and not a limitation is having performed the quality of life study in women with coeliac disease using a mixed methodology, approaching the experience of being a woman with coeliac disease in Spain in two different but complementary ways. The quantitative and qualitative data allowed us to interpret the experiences of our participants.