Health Sciences and Medicines - Essay Example

Running Head: HEALTH SCIENCES AND MEDICINES An Education Program Article Critique [Name of the Writer] [Name of the Institution] [Name of the Professor] [Course] Introduction The assignment aims at critically analyzing and examining the research conducted by Tanas, et al, 2007) on childhood obesity based on behavioral therapy and therapeutic education program for combating childhood obesity at the Pediatric Department of Ferrara Hospital, Italy. The research was conducted to identify the impact and influence of behavioral therapy and therapeutic education program in controlling childhood obesity. The assignment aims at examining the validity and reliability of the research by critically analyzing the research and analysis methods. Study Design and Participants Controlled clinical studies based on Therapeutic Education Program including 190 overweight Caucasian children were used to conduct the research in order to identify the impact and influence of Therapeutic Education Program and Traditional Dietary Treatment. Children treated with therapeutic education program included 45 males and 40 females while children treated with traditional dietary treatment included 105 matched children. The concept used for the research was to assess the behaviour of obese Caucasian children through an education program based on based on behavioral therapy and therapeutic education. It was found that Therapeutic Education Program offers more benefits compared to Dietary Treatment in controlling and managing obesity amongst Caucasian children Validity and Reliability Validity and Reliability Introduction Strengths Weaknesses Conclusion Internal Validity Internal validity refers to the research and analysis happened in internal setups like laboratory. The research conducted by Tanas, et al (2007) states that data were analysed in the laboratory in a scientific manner However, there was a close association of internal and external setups considering the fact that the research was conducted in the laboratory and ecological environment and thus questioning limitations As the research was based on observational design happened in the ecological environment, the internal validity can be considered as of little reliability. Though, results were generated in the laboratory setting but variables were dependent on the external environment and thus, there is a doubt over the reliability of the research and can be considered as a limitation. External Validity External validity is dependent on external factors like ecological environment and setups. External validity helped in collecting the responses of children in a coherent way. External validity was dependent on the internal validity and thus a major limitation. The research could have been conducted in the ecological environment based on external validity rather than mixing internal and external validities Construct Validity Construct validity refers to scale in terms of measurement and correlation There is a common relationship between therapeutic education and dietary treatment These approaches and can be considered as the major strength of construct validity. There is no weakness as such other than the reliability of results. The approach can be considered as quite interesting offering different perspectives to assess a subject. Conclusion Validity Conclusion validity can be defined as a degree to which conclusions about relationships between chosen variables is justified. - Conclusions are based on the contradiction of internal and external validity and can be questioned. Based on personal understanding, conclusions may differ if the same research is conducted by focusing on external validity If the research would have been conducted in a different manner, the impact over above mentioned validity model would have been different. An assessment of this includes: Internal Validity As the research was based on observational design happened in the ecological environment, the internal validity can be considered as of little reliability. Though, results were generated in the laboratory setting but variables were dependent on the external environment and thus, there is a doubt over the reliability of the research and can be considered as a limitation. External Validity The research could have been conducted in the ecological environment based on external validity rather than mixing internal and external validities. If the study would have been conducted in the ecological environment along with testing variables like eating behaviour and physical education and activities by conducting tests in front of the selected samples, it would have helped in making the research more streamlined. Moreover, the study happened in phases which mean selected samples behaviour was oblivion for few months and was strongly relying on laboratory tests and results and thus a limitation. The researcher could have created a laboratory setting there for few months in order to observe the behaviour of children to come up with appropriate results and outcomes in a logical way. Construct Validity Construct validity refers to scale in terms of measurement and correlation. The idea is to highlight whether a common factor can be shown using wide arrays of observational indicators. In this case, the researcher had used Therapeutic Education Program and Traditional Dietary Treatment to control obesity amongst Caucasian overweight children. The approach can be considered as quite interesting offering different perspectives to assess a subject. There is a common relationship between both these approaches and can be considered as the major strength of construct validity. Conclusion Validity Conclusion validity can be defined as a degree to which conclusions about relationships between chosen variables is justified. The research conducted by Tanas, et al (2007) is based on identifying the importance of Therapeutic Education Program and Traditional Dietary Treatment is controlling obesity and conclusions are based on personal understanding. Moreover, conclusions are based on the contradiction of internal and external validity and can be questioned. However, based on personal understanding, conclusions may differ if the same research is conducted by focusing on external validity. Purposive sampling Purposive Sampling is based on a purpose that is predefined. However, the purpose to observe the obesity trend among Caucasian children was based on two studies, behavioral therapy and therapeutic education that created the need for different samples. Research Design The research design was based on two group experimental design which is best for identifying cause effect relationship. Evaluation Apprehension Evaluation apprehension is based on the fact that rewards and punishments are based on the evaluation of others. In this research, under therapeutic education, children were motivated through sharing of ideas and views but there were no rewards or punishments. It would have been better to introduce rewards for children following the guidance in order to increase the possibility of reducing their extra weight (Denzer, et al, 2004) Instrument Change In case of self reports and self experiment, instrument change can change the entire experiment or research. However, in this research there was no retrospective testing as results were based on internal validity of laboratory tests and outcomes. Selection mortality happens when the research is conducted on two different groups and samples drop out between or pre test and post test. However, the numbers of samples dropping out were mentioned in the initial stage of the research that does not offer any excuse to criticize the selection mortality. Social Interaction Threats Social interaction threats in this research can be considered as quite high as the research focused on two separate groups. There must have been a possibility where participants of two groups would have interacted sharing their views, opinions and experiences. This might or might not have resulted in lack of commitment affecting the entire results (Kiess, et al, 2001) Research Design The research design was based on experiment where the researcher tried to change the health behaviour of obese Caucasian children. Variables like little knowledge over health and physical activities and eating habits were controlled. Impact on Statistics and Results If the researcher would have followed experimental design along with concentrating on one variable like, physical education reducing obesity or correct diet reducing obesity, chances of social interaction threats and conflict between internal and external validity would have been much lesser. Furthermore, the research would have shown little drop outs if evaluation apprehension would have been used (Trifiro, et al, 2003). All these factors would have played a major role in changing the presented results and outcomes in the form of statistics. Reliability As results were generated in the laboratory setting but variables were dependent on the external environment and thus, there is a doubt over the reliability of the research. Moreover, results are based on personal understanding of the researcher that may be challenged. Rating On the basis of the discussion, it can be said that the research has certain limitations in terms of internal and external validity and on a scale of 10 can be measures at 7. Conclusion On the basis of the above discussion, it can be assumed that the research offers a great scope in controlling obesity amongst Caucasian children but lacks validity and reliability. It would have been great of the researcher would have favored external validity rather than mixing the internal and external validity together. Overall, the research seems fine in terms of the approach and presentation. References Denzer C, Reithofer E, Wabitsch M, Widhalm K (2004): The outcome of childhood obesity management depends highly upon patient compliance. Eur J Pediatr , 163(2):99-104. Kiess W, Galler A, Reich A, Muller G, Kapellen T, Deutscher J, Raile K, Kratzsch J (2001): Clinical aspects of obesity in childhood and adolescence. Obes Rev , 2(1):29-36. Trifiro G, Salvatoni A, Tanas R, Brambilla P, Maffeis C (2003): Treatment of childhood obesity] Minerva Pediatric , 55(5):471-482. Read More