The Beliefs of the Nurses towards Using Physical Restraints - Research Paper Example

? Research Report Assessment Article Summary Nurses should be given full freedom to choose the activities that can mark a difference in the patient’soutcome. When the nurses begin to conduct various sorts of activities, it is to be stated that they should remain much cautious towards assessing the activities that make no difference in the patient’s outcome. If there is any activity that does not make a change in the patient’s care, the nurses should put in their best effort to change it. The problem mainly arises with regard to the fact that the attitudes as well as the beliefs of the nurses towards using physical restraints with older people incessantly changes due to enlarged complexities in healthcare circumstances. Amongst various studies that have been conducted concerning this significant subject matter, a sort of moderate attitude towards the exercise of restraints with the elderly people can be viewed. A few of the reasons that can be considered as quite vital concerning the use of physical restraints with elderly people are viewed to be related with the safety concern of the patients (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). With this concern, the purpose of this study is to forecast the adequacy of Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and also to explain the reasons about why the nurses are executing physical restraints with elderly people and ultimately how they are benefitted. Research Question or Hypothesis The research questions that are appropriate for this particular study has been portrayed hereunder. Whether the attitude, approach and the subjective norms are related to the intention of nurse’s intention towards employing physical restraints particularly with the elderly people? How the nurse’s attitude, approach, subjective norms and objectives to exercise physical restraints are linked with selected professional as well as demographic variables? Research Variables Dependent Variables The main dependent variables used in the study include moral obligation, intention, attitude as well as subjective norm. Independent Variable Independent variables are mainly regarded as the socio- economic characteristics like age and professional facets such as years in the profession and the percentage of restraints used. The independent variables are first examined and then their merged effects are taken into concern for making further study. Extraneous Variables There are two extraneous variables that can be viewed in this study. These comprise years of education and religious belief of the people (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Research Design Research designs in general are of three kinds that include experimental, descriptive and causal research design. The research design used in this study is causal research design. It is often viewed to be a study which highlights the impact of one thing over the other (University of Southern California, n.d.). In this regard, a particular research design of correlation design has been taken into concern in the study with 303 nursing staffs in the region of Central Israel (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Population and Sample Setting In terms of setting, the population or the sample volume for this research study can be viewed as 303 staff members of nursing in an 800-bed hospital located in the central area of Israel (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Target and Accessible Population Participants have been asked to report their consent by taking into concern three different cases. These cases have been presented hereunder. 1. The first case is of an 87 year-old patient having cognitive deterioration and is hospitalized for three days. 2. The second case is of a 80 year-old patient who has been suffering from Cerebral Vascular Accident. 3. The third case included that of a 75 year-old patient who is suffering from moderate cognitive impairment (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Sample and Sampling Plan Three hundred and three nursing staff members of an 800 bed elder care hospital had participated in the study which was conducted. Females constituted majority of the population with 95.2%. The proportion of married members was 82.7% and the percentages of the people born in Israel were 51%. With regard to their professional characteristics, about 52.3% were registered nurses and the remaining were nursing assistants. Ethical Issues A few of the ethical issues that can be confronted in this study are socio-economic variables like age, gender as well as marital status and professional characteristics like the number of years in the profession and the percentage of restraints used. These issues might impose unfavorable impact upon the validity of the research findings by a greater level (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Data Collection Procedures In order to determine the procedures of data collection relating to this particular study, questionnaires have been provided to the nursing staff members in Central Israel of a large elder care hospital. A total of 303 questionnaires had been sent back which yielded a 73.2% response rate (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Data Collection Instruments The main instruments that have been taken into concern for the study are provided below. 1. The TRA Questionnaire: A questionnaire has been designed in order to determine different sorts of TRA variables in proportion to the utilization of physical restraints especially with the elderly people. 2. Attitude: The attitudes were scaled according to the patient’s attitude to rate behavior as unfavorable or favorable, harmful or beneficial and convenient or inconvenient. 3. Subjective Norm: It included three social references that comprise family members, co – workers and supervisors. 4. Perceived Moral Obligation: Each of the items of moral obligation was rated on a 7 point rating scale ranging from 1- definitely not to 7- definitely yes (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Data Analysis and Results Statistics Used Descriptive statistics comprising both mean and standard deviation have been used to describe the data about each situation measuring intention to restrain elderly people and to also measure other study variables (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Researcher’s Discussion/Conclusions Generalizability Rationale concerning the model of TRA in identifying factors affecting the exploitation of physical restraints is mainly aimed at promoting behavioral changes and altering attitudes. Limitations There are several limitations that can be viewed in this study. In this similar concern, one of the limitations can be associated with researching more representative samples. The research with more representative samples could be used to substantiate the results. Thirdly, antecedents of behavior could not be considered because of the cross sectional study resulting in making the study quite limited. Nursing Implications The nursing staff members had a favorable attitude towards the execution of physical restraints with the elderly people. In terms of nursing implication, this particular study promoted the educators of nurses towards exploring the attitudes, anticipations and the beliefs of the staff members by a greater level. Future Research The main emphasis of future research lies in exploring the issues in the context of a conceptual framework, since none of the studies conducted earlier explored issues in that content. The earlier studies only focused on determining the change in attitude in the use of a physical restraint. As the usage of the research based studies extends, the development of the theoretically based studies may improve the dominance of practitioner’s base of knowledge in any particular research field (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Assessment of the Research Article The nursing staff members on an average had a strong attitude about the exploitation of physical restraints particularly with the elderly people. In order to assess the research article, strong association can be found between intention and attitude followed by moral obligations and subjective norms. However, older age can be considered as a weaker intention to execute physical restraints (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Presentation and Stylistic Dimensions It can be apparently observed that the research report had a complete and inclusive knowledge about the concerned subject matter. The writing was quite clear and the language was also understandable. Moreover, the tables were also quite effective in deriving the conclusions of the study making it more presentable as well as possessing a stylistic dimension in this present day context. References University of Southern California. (n.d.). Types of research designs. Retrieved from http://libguides.usc.edu/content.php?pid=83009&sid=818072 Werner, P., & Mendelsson , G. (2001). Nursing staff members’ intention to use physical restraints with older people. Journal of Advanced Nurisng 35(5), pp. 784-791. Read More