Australia Womens Experiences of Recovery from Breast Cancer - Article Example

Critique of a Published Article On Experience and Effects of Breast cancer among Young women in Australia Title: “Elmir, R., Jackson, D., Beale, B., & Schmied, V. (2010). Against all odds: Australia Women’s Experiences of Recovery from Breast Cancer (sic).Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(17-18), 2531-2538.” Name: Order No: 378725 Subject: Nursing Number of words: 2000 Date: 5/1/2011 Abstract This paper is divided into two parts, A and B. Part A is divided into four sections and critically evaluates the preliminaries in published literature. Part B is divided into two sections, that is, critical analysis of the recommendations and the conclusion. The research therefore concludes that the published literature is below the standard of professional writing because it was poorly organised with grammatical errors, poor sentence construction, verbosity and uncoordinated data. Introduction Breast cancer can be defined as a malignant tumor which develops from the breast cells. The tumor is a set of cancer viruses growing within the breast and spreading drastically to all other body parts. It is common among women although some men do get it too. For women, their breast is composed of the lobules glands responsible for producing breast milk. Within these glands are the small ducts that carry milk from the glands towards the nipple at the time of breast feeding. However, there are stroma tissues surrounding the ducts, glands, the lymphatic as well as blood vessels. Therefore cancer cells develop from within the duct or lobules of the breast. Some of the causes of breast cancer include failing to bear children and postponing to have children until later age of 35 years, having Menstruation periods at the age of 12 years or having the menopause at a relatively early age. Others include too much alcohol, obesity and having a mixed hormone replacement. The purpose of this paper is to critique published work on breast cancer post recovery experience and filling in the missing gaps within the paper Part A Critical Evaluations of the published literature Section one: Preliminaries Title and abstract The title was not well formatted. Although you could infer the meaning of the title, the sentence structure is poor (Elmir R, 2010, P. 2531). The title should be simple and clear. I suggest the title to be: breast cancer recovery among young women in Australia. This title would include a discussion on all the odds, experiences and effects of breast after diagnosis and prognosis. From the researched paper, the abstract is missing. It ought to be part of the essay (Hoper, 2008). Introduction and Literature Review of the published literature The statistics given in the introduction are not consistent. The authors state that “approximately 10.000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer” every year. They also state that the disease kills 25.000 people annually while citing the published works of “the cancer council” (Elmir, 2010, P.2531). You cannot have the number of deaths exceeding the estimated number patients within the same year. Accordingly there is no evidence of these statistics in the document cited. The document is on the use of soy foods or phyto-oestrogens as a mechanism of preventing or reducing on cancer risks (cancer council, 2006). The council concluded that although it is a good diet, there is no evidence that soy food reduces on breast cancer. It’s an indication of uncorroborated data in the published work. Furthermore, the author states that breast cancer is the leading cause of deaths among young females in Australia. They also state that the risk is very low standing at 1% for women below the age of 30 and 10% for those between 30-50 years. This is not consistent too. Breast cancer cannot be the leading cause of deaths and at the same time be low. Besides, the authors state that there misconception that diagnosis (Elmir R, 2010, 2532). That is affects a woman’s outlook. This could be true but it’s attributed to poor civic education (Kumle, 2008). Prevention is better than cure and diagnosis is one way of preventing the spread of the cancer cells. A woman will go for treatment to curb the spread of cancer cells. Back ground of the published literature The back ground of the published article is full of grammatical errors poor sentence construction and verbose language. For example, the author wrote, “…the effects of breast cancer on young women …” The application of the preposition “on” is wrong. The correct proposition in this case would be among and extra. Besides, in the background, the author ought to have examined the post recovery experience in the past and the current position by looking at the literature review. It is also important to distinguish literature review from background of the study. Although the later is premised on the former, literature review is intended to examine published works and then identify the gaps within the literature which you are aiming at filling. The back ground focuses on the topic of study prior to research time and the current position. These two were intertwined in the published literature. Ethical considerations Ethically the researchers observed the ethical considerations. For example, they made advertisements using metropolitan papers, radio stations and other forms of traditional advertisements. The interviews were conducted in closed door with regard to privacy of the respondents. They also sought consent from the respondents before interviewing them. The only thing that lacked was the encouragement and giving hope. I don’t see any where in the paper that the researchers encouraged the respondents to live with hope and not to be scared. Instead, they joined the patients in emotional outcry, fear and uncertainty. As health personnel you have to continue encouraging the patients instead of joining them in the emotional outbreak. Section two: Methods Aims and purpose The aim of the study was structurally communicates the intent of the author. The authors stated that the purpose of the research was “to generate insight into younger women’s experiences of recovery from breast cancer-related breast surgery and to contribute to the knowledge base for clinicians practicing in this field (sic).” However, I they ought to have formatted it in this way. Firstly to understand the causes and effects of breast cancer among young women, secondly, to educate the stake holders about the post recovery experiences of breast cancer and thirdly, to add value to the existing body of knowledge. Once you have formulated your aims systematically like this, then your essay would be focused on answering each aim. However, placing those objectives into one aim does not help the author to meticulously arrange the thoughts and essay in a professional way. Sampling The researchers employed sampling and interview techniques as methods of data collection. The women sampled were between 31-50 years and included May, 42, Kelly, 37, Jane, 31 and Denise, 48. They suggest that the research findings show fear, emotional outbreak, uncertainty and loss of femininity which could be correct but this sample was narrow. The research ought to include in women between 18-30 years. This would give a good comparative analysis in data collection. The number of the sampled respondents is a very small and explains why the findings are uncoordinated. This ought to be a wide scope as seen in published works of Coyne and Borbasi, (2006). Research design The researchers states that they used qualitative method in gathering the information which can be inferred from the sample above. We have also seen that the statistics given under the introductory part are inconsistent. With reference to their literature review, the researchers employed both qualitative and quantitative analysis but had no idea about the meaning of these two methods of research. If they knew the difference between these two methods, the results would give them a good comparative analysis and the findings would be accurate. Therefore the loopholes in the published Journal article are a consequence of the ignorance about research methodology. They ought to have clearly identified their methodology as it was properly employed by million women study collaborators,( 2003) Data collection Although the method of data collection was good, it did not give appropriate results. The researchers used descriptive and narrative techniques to gather information. This was done through the phenomenological interview. However, some of the questions used were poorly constructed like the first question (Elmir R, 2010, P.2533). This did not allow the respondents to express themselves in detail which explains why there is a limited number of the demographic sample. The question ought to be; can you tell us about your experience? This question would make the respondents give broad knowledge of their post recovery experience. The second and third questions were fair. I should acknowledge that the use of audio tapes was good because it helped the researchers to reflect on the researched information and fill in the gaps where necessary. Section 3: Critical evaluation of the findings The finding majorly focused on emotional feelings after diagnosis caused by fear of death, stigma and discrimination, loss femininity among others. However, there lot irreverence in the findings like that breast cancer patients feels the strength of having cancer (Elmir R, 2010, P.2535). This is not correct at all because you cannot be strong while enduring the emotional consequences of diagnosis and prognosis. What the author ought to state is the hope of healing and possibly living longer through medication. This hope comes through encouragement and support from friends and health personnel. This makes the patients to feel loved and cared for as observed by Hoper, ( 2008, P.471). Therefore, the findings were not qualitatively presented. Section 4: Critical evaluation of the discussion part There is a lot of reputation in this part of the published literature. I expected the authors to state possibly that the findings present a post traumatic experience and how these experiences affect patients as it is well written by Coyne and Borbasi,(2006).In the discussion you are supposed to give an analysis of the findings. For example Canfell K, et all (2008, P.663) professionally indicated in their discussion and revealed that from the findings, there was a decrease in breast cancer due to the reduction in the use of “hormone replacement therapy”. Therefore the published literature falls short of qualitative writing. Part B Critical evaluation of the recommendations This is one of the most important parts of the research. Unfortunately the published literature does not have the recommendation part; a further indication the work was unprofessionally written. In this part, I expected to see recommendations that conform to the current clinical standards in Australia and worth of implementation. Therefore there are no recommendations to critique. Some of the steps that should be taken are: the health sector should encourage people to seek early testing and treatment of breast cancer as a method of preventing the spread of cancer cells. Knowing your status at an early time helps you to deal with the disease using other modes of treatment like pills without going for surgery. Diagnosis should be the last resort when the disease is in advanced stages according to published works of Canfell K, et all ( 2008). The theme should be that Prevention is better than cure. There should be workshops conducted by the health sector to specifically educate the young people about the all available methods of treatment if the disease is detected at an early stage to deal with the fear of losing femininity. In these workshops and seminars, experienced surgeons should evaluate the best mechanisms of the diagnosis that could not affect their physical appearance. Similarly, civic education on stigma and discrimination should be conducted to reduce on post recovery psychological effects at work. Patients should also learn the reality that prevention is better than cure. There should be health banners placed in all health centers, schools, colleges, universities and Public offices to deal with stigma and discrimination. Conclusions In conclusion therefore, the published literature was poorly written. It’s dominated with a lot of grammatical errors, poor sentence construction, and lacks the abstract and the recommendations. The organization was unprofessional and the entire essay was marred with reputations and verbose language. You cannot place the limitations after the conclusion. Although the objective of the research communicates the aim, as to discuss post recovery effects of breast cancer after surgery, the findings were unprofessionally gathered. Furthermore, there is a lot of inconsistent in the information given due to poor methodological approach. References Borbasi, C. E. (2006). Holding it all together: Breat cancer and its impact for young women. Contemporary Nurse, 23 , 159-169. Canfell K, B. E. (2008). Decrease in breast cancer incidence following a rapid Fall in use of Hormone replacent therapy in Australia. Medical Jouranl of Australia, v. 188 , 641-644. Elmir R, J. D. (2010). Against all Odds: Australia Women's Experiences of Recovery from Breast Cancer. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(17-18) , 2531-2538. Hoper, J. L. (May 13, 2008). Some of the Public Health issues in Australia. Australian and Newzealand Health Journal of Public health, V.20(5) , 467-472. Kumle, M. (2008). Declining Breast cancer incidence and Decreased HRT use. Medical Journal of health Sciences , 608-610. Million women study collaborators. (2003). Breast Cancer and Hormone replacement therapy in the million women study. Lacet, 362 , 419-427. The cancer council, New south wales. (2006, September). Position statement: soy Phyto Oestrogens and cancer Prevention. Retrieved April 29, 2011, from Understanding breast Cancer: http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/html/healthprofessionals/nutrition_physical/downloads/posion_statement_soy_n_cancer.pdf Read More