The Meaning of Spirituality among Nonreligious Persons with Chronic Illness - Research Proposal Example

? Evidence Based Research The Meaning of Spirituality Among Nonreligious Persons With Chronic Illness by Creel, Eileen DNS, RN; Tillman, Ken PhD, RN OVERVIEW OF ARTICLE The article discusses the meaning of spirituality among non religious individuals suffering from chronic illness. The research involves the use of a phenomenological approach in which 11 participants were used to get the explanation of their beliefs, spiritual enhancement, and spiritual awakening. The study’s research question is how nurses can attend to the spirituality needs of a patient given the context of a society that has numerous cultures and faiths. The researchers used a qualitative research design with the specific use of Phenomenology. This was motivated by the fact that Phenomenology provided the best opportunity for the researchers to get the real picture of how individual participants view the concept of spirituality. The researchers also use the van Manen's method in collecting data for the research study. A total of 11 participants were used for the research study with women dominating the numbers. There were 7 women while the remaining 4 were men. The participants were between the ages of 30 years and 71 years and were all whites. Furthermore, they were all educated with a minimum of a high school qualification (Creel & Tillman, 2008). Each of the participants was subjected to an interview and their views recoded and transcribed in a tape. Thereafter, the lead researcher listened to the interviews and made a phenomenological reflection to grasp each participant’s reflection of the meaning of spirituality. After a thorough analysis of the interviews, it was reported that there were five themes related to the concept of spirituality among individuals suffering from chronic illness. The themes include reflective awareness, spiritual awareness, beliefs, disillusionment with religion or religious people, and spiritual awakening (Creel & Tillman, 2008). Generally, the findings of the study pointed to the fact that every person is spiritual in unique ways and that their spiritual needs can somehow be enhanced even in a nursing setting. STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE ARTICLE The main strength of the article is that the findings of the study are relevant to the field of nursing. The findings are specifically relevant in the body of knowledge related to the spirituality of patients suffering from chronic illness. Furthermore, the researchers have used a reliable research design that ensures highly accurate responses from participants. Therefore, the findings of the research study are reliable. On the other hand, the article has a major weakness of using a narrow selection of participants. All the participants used were whites and this may have affected the accuracy of the results of the study. This also covers the inclusion of people that have religious affiliations in the research study. The study should have used participants from different cultures as well as those that do not have a religious affiliation. Examining the Impact of Socioeconomic Status and Socioecologic Stress on Physical and Mental Health Quality of Life Among Breast Cancer Survivors by Kimlin T. Ashing-Giwa, PhD, and Jung-won Lim, PhD OVERVIEW OF ARTICLE The article discusses a research on a clinical trial aimed at testing the efficacy of brief intervention in reducing the use of alcohol and its related harms in the context of postpartum women. The research design involved the use of quantitative data from a random trial in a clinical setting that was conducted between 2002 and 2005. The research procedures involved the use of health screening survey that was conducted the participant’s 6-week postpartum visit. Some of the items contained in the survey include the level of drinking and period of time. Eligible participants were asked to participate in a baseline assessment interview that involved questions related to the use of alcohol and tobacco among other drugs. The questions also touched on neighborhood disorder, depression, and the utilization of healthcare services (Ashing-Giwa & Lim, 2009). Each successful participant received an incentive of $150 for successful completion of each phase of the study. A total of 235 participants were involved in the research study which strictly involved postpartum women aged 18 years and above. The participants came from different racial backgrounds with most of them being Caucasian while the least number of them were African Americans. Results for the study were collected through baseline assessment interview which involved the use of a number of standardized tools. Some of the tools included the EPDS and TLFB which were used to screen depression and alcohol respectively. The researchers analyzed data using logistic and ordinary least squares regression techniques. Both relied on the use of SPSS-15. The actual findings of the study indicate that women exposed to a brief alcohol intervention program have lower levels of depression compared to those that use alcohol (Ashing-Giwa & Lim, 2009). STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE ARTICLE The main strength of the article is that it describes the use of a diverse population for the research study. This includes the use of people from both local and urban communities, and the use of participants from different racial backgrounds. Additionally, the article comprehensively describes how the research study was conducted by separating the activities that were involved in the study. The article also uses graphical presentations in summarizing the findings of the research study. However, the article’s main limitation is the fact it mentions the use of various methods of data analysis that are very complex to a common reader but fails to explain such methods. The Effect of Brief Alcohol Intervention on Postpartum Depression by Wilton, Georgiana PhD; Moberg, D. PAUL PhD; FLEMING, MICHAEL F. MD, MPH OVERVIEW OF ARTICLE The article discusses the impact of socioeconomic status on socioecological stress on the quality of health among survivors of breast cancer. This includes the physical and mental aspects of the quality of health. The research study answers the question on how physical and mental health quality of life varies among survivors of breast cancer in relation to socioeconomic status and ethnicity. The study relied on the use of a qualitative research design whereby participants were involved in responding to a questionnaire and a telephone survey. Key variable used during the study included physical and mental health, socioecologic stress, and socioeconomic status (Wilton, Moberg, & Fleming, 2009). The study population consisted of 703 participants drawn from different ethnic backgrounds who were strictly survivors of breast cancer. The participants included Africans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Europeans. There was the use of correlation between demographic information and socioeconomic status of participants. The actual findings indicated that Socioecologic stress was the most important factor that influenced physical and mental health among participants (Wilton, Moberg, & Fleming, 2009). STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE ARTICLE The main strength of the article is that it has presented information in a clear manner using sections. This makes it easy to read the contents of the paper and draw conclusions. There is also use of raw data to support the findings of the study. The main limitation of the article is that it does not provide extensive information on how the research study was conducted. Additionally, the article does not use graphical presentation in representing the findings of the research study. References Ashing-Giwa, K. T., & Lim, J. (2009).Examining the impact of socioeconomic status and socioecologic stress on physical and mental health quality of life among breast cancer survivors. Oncology Nursing Forum, 36(1), 79–88. Creel, E., & Tillman, K. (2008).The meaning of spirituality among nonreligious persons with chronic illness. Holistic Nursing Practice, 22(6), 303–309. Wilton, G., Moberg, P., & Fleming, M. F. (2009).The effect of brief alcohol intervention on postpartum depression. Maternal Child Nursing, 34(5), 297–302. Read More