Health Psychology - Article Example

Health psychology Research articles report on research and their findings towards a specified objective such as informing a target audience of developed knowledge or developing a strategy for solving a social problem. I, in this paper, review a journal article’s research aims and findings, and the scope of implementing one of its recommendations. Summary of aims and resultsThe article’s core objective involved an exploration of stress that medical students face while dealing with cancer patients and implemented strategies in managing such stress.

The first aim, with respect to this objective was to recognize factors to stress among the students as they handle people who suffer from cancer. The research further aimed at identifying applied methods for managing effects of the realized stress among the students and significance of the strategies. Further, the researchers aimed at exploring existence of significant difference among the factors to stress, approaches to management, and the degree of effects of stress that the students realize.

The differences were based on “gender,” “age,” “ethnicity,” “relationship status” and “previous contact with cancer patients” (Jones, Fellows and Horne, 2011, p. 220).Research findings identified a significant difference in reported level of stress by gender in which females reported higher stress scores than males while the other demographic factors did not report significant differences. The results identify cancer patients’ status as one of the factors to the students’ reported stress.

Effects of the disease on patients physical and psychological well being as well as effects on the patients’ family members are other factors to the students’ stress. The process of disclosing bad news to relatives of a cancer patient is another stressor to the students. The participants also reported application of “problem and emotion focused coping strategies” in managing stress and application of the strategies depended on the students’ reported degree of stress (Jones, Fellows and Horne, 2011, p. 221).Details of the scope of recommended research and practical issues to consider when planning for the research projectOne of the researchers’ recommendations is a further research to investigate possible impacts of the realized stress on the students’ health.

Assuming the role of a nurse to implement this research, my research would include determination of a research question for exploring the new study. It would further include development of a research methodology for the research question, determination of the most appropriate design for implementation and sampling of medical students for the study. Data would then be collected on the students’ level of stress and frequency of exposure to stress and then tested for stress related complications with the aim of establishing a relationship between stress and the students’ health.

Data analysis will then follow this to generate descriptive statistics and inferential statistics for exploring the research question. Practical issues that need to be considered when planning the research project include cost of implementation such as cost of accessing the research participants, data collection, data analysis, and documentation of the research report. Similarly, ethical issues such as “beneficence,” “informed consent,” and “non-malfeasance” will need to be considered in the planning process (Rice, Fetzer and Long, 2011, p. 81). ReferenceJones, F.

, Fellows, J. and Horne, D. (2011). Coping with cancer: A brief report on stress and coping strategy in medical students dealing with cancer patients. Psycho-Oncology, 20, 219- 223. Rice, R., Fetzer, S. and Long, J. (2011). Gerioperative nursing care: Principles and practices of surgical care for the older adult. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.