Review of Research Articles about Nursing - Assignment Example

Review of Research Articles Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 12 March 2009 Review of Research Articles Author(s) of the first assigned article: First article considered for review is by Bond, Draeger, Manleco, and Donnelly. It pertains to trauma of family members of a patient who met with severe traumatic brain injury, and is titled “Needs of family members of patients with severe traumatic brain injury.” (Bond, et al. 2003, p.177-189). 1. What is the purpose of the study? Find it in the text of the article and indicate where you found it. The purpose of the study is to “discover the needs of families of patients with severe traumatic brain injury during the families’ experience” in a neurosurgical intensive care unit (ICU). The purpose of the study is emphasized at the end of introduction to the article. 2. Restate the purpose statement in the PICO format. Perform a CINAHL search based on this question. Include the search strategy. Evaluate the evidence available to answer this question. Is the designated article included in the results? P-severe traumatic brain injury I –alleviating family’s trauma C–nurses’ compassionate interaction O –empower patients’ families; understand perceived family needs Search using the phrases “needs of families patients with severe traumatic brain injury” resulted in retrieving original version of the designated article from the PubMed and the link to Clinical Care Nurse journal with URL address. (Bond, et al. 2003, p.177-189). 3. What is the focus of the study (etiology, assessment and diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prevention, meaning)? The study focuses on meaningful research as the method to identify, and assess all needs of families of patients with severe traumatic brain injury, and alleviate their distress. 4. Is the study quantitative or qualitative? How do you know? Bond et al (2003) used qualitative method for their study. In the concluding part of literature review and particularly in method section it is specifically mentioned that they used “an exploratory qualitative descriptive design” to explore the needs of patients’ families through individual interviews during the course of the patients’ stay in the ICU. Qualitative research approaches have traditionally been favored when the main research objective is to improve our understanding of a phenomenon, especially when this phenomenon is complex and deeply embedded in its context.” (Audet and Amboise, 2001). 5. Are research questions or hypotheses given? If so, list one of them. If a hypothesis is given, is it null, directional, or alternative? It is hypothesized that “appropriate interactions with the families are essential if nurses are to remain advocates” for severe traumatized brain injury patients and families and provide holistic nursing care. Since the closer scrutiny of study results indicated that nurses have overlooked important concept of empowerment of patients and patients’ families establishes that the intervention has not been successful in changing quality of life makes the category of the study to be termed as ‘null hypothesis’ 6. What are the variables/phenomena being studied? Are they IV, DV or Vs of I? The study analyzed dependent variables (DV) related to experiences of family members and are measured on the basis of independent variables (IV) of nurses’ behavior. 7. How does the author establish the importance of the study (e.g., number of persons affected, seriousness of the problem, gap in the literature)? Indicate where you found it in the article. The importance of the study has been established through relevant statistics on brain injury based on Glasgow Coma Scale in the introduction to the article. It is projected that traumatic brain injury occurs in 500,000 persons each year in the United States and family members of approximately 45,000 patients, who have severe traumatic brain injury requiring ICU intervention, are “overwhelmed by the patients’ critical, constantly changing status” (Bond, et al, 2003) 8. How many paragraphs are in the literature review (from paragraph B1 to the last paragraph before the Methods section)? What are the major topics in the literature review? What headings are used in the literature review? There are eight paragraphs and a tabular presentation in the literature study part. Though no specific headings are given to the literature review part, it covers crisis theory, Molter’s randomized list of Critical Care Family Needs Inventory, effectiveness of structured communication program, role of family advocates in introducing greater family satisfaction, importance of family conference, information transfer about patients’ condition, and relevance of qualitative study. 9. Is a theoretical framework used? If so, which one? Is the framework written by a nurse? Yes, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ (AACN) vision of advocacy for patients and patients’ families has been used as the theoretical framework in this study. AACN is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world, which is dedicated to provide its members with the “knowledge and resources necessary to provide optimal care to critically ill patients” to fulfill their promise to patients and their families. (About AACN, 2009). 10. How many references are given in the reference list? Scan them and determine how current they are with respect to the publication date of the article. Also indicate approximately how many are published in nursing journals. There are 41 references given in the reference list, of which 13 articles are more than ten years old. Approximately 25 articles are published in nursing journals. 11. Identify the research design. What are the characteristics of this design? If it is an experimental or quasi-experimental design, diagram it using the R-O-X system. An exploratory qualitative descriptive design was used for this investigation. It is a non-experimental design as a convenient sample of family members of patients admitted to neurological ICU and was included in the study with specific inclusion criteria. References About AACN. (2009). American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from http://www.aacn.org/WD/MainPages/Content/AboutUs.pcms?menu=AboutUs&lastmenu=divHeader_About_AACN Audet, Josee., and Amboise, Gerald d. (2001). The multi site study: An innovative research methodology. The Qualitative Report, 6 (2). Retrieved March 12, 2009, from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR6-2/audet.html Bond, Elain., et al. (2003). Trauma: Needs of Family Members of Patients with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Critical Care Nurse, 23, 63-72. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/cgi/content/full/23/4/63 Author(s) of the second assigned article: White, C.L., Mayo, N., Hanley, J.A., and Wood-Dauphinee, S are the authors of the second article, titled “Evolution of the caregiving experience in the initial 2 years following stroke.” 1. What is the purpose of the study? Find it in the text of the article and indicate where you found it. White and colleagues (2003) stated the purpose of study was to “describe the health-related quality of life (HRQL) and overall quality of life (QoL) of family caregivers in the initial two years following stroke and to examine the impact of stroke survivors and caregiver characteristics on HRQL and QoL,” since majority of previous studies being cross sectional, limited the understanding of the evolution of the caregiving role. The purpose statement is incorporated in second paragraph of introduction. 2. Restate the purpose statement in the PICO format. Perform a CINAHL search based on this question. Include your search strategy. Evaluate the evidence available to answer this question. Is the designated article included in the results? P-Stroke survivor I- family care givers’ quality of life C- HRQL (Health-related quality of life) I- emotional disorder Search of PubMed using the phrase “HRQL care givers/stroke survivor*” retrieved three articles in which the assigned article was also there, but full text was not free. Full text can be obtained from Wiley interScience, and the URL is (White, et al, 2003, p.177-89). 3. What is the focus of the study (etiology, assessment and diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prevention, meaning)? The study focuses on the dynamic relationship between caregiver and stroke survivor and of the impact of caregiving experience on caregiver’s HRQL and QoL. 4. Is the study quantitative or qualitative? How do you know? The article under review is derived from earlier cohort study conducted by Mayo and colleagues (2002, cited by White et al, 2003) that focused on the long-term impact on individuals experiencing stroke. It is qualitative cohort analysis, which has been narrated in the beginning of methods section. 5. Are research questions or hypotheses given? If so, list one of them. If a hypothesis is given, is it null, directional, or alternative? It is hypothesized that as earlier studies have been cross sectional and the scores have not been compared to a non-caregiving groups “it is important to examine subgroups and to identify those individuals who may be at risk for negative consequences.” (White, et al, 2003, p.177-89). 6. What are the variables/phenomena being studied? Are they IV and DV or Vs of I? The specific objectives addressed were: (1) caregiver characteristics in the first and second years of caregiving; (2) comparing age and sex adjusted population norms of caregiver’s HRQL in the first and second years; (3) examining impact of stroke survivor characteristics and caregiver characteristics on HQRL; and (4) examining both groups’ characteristics on overall QoL. These are dependent variables (DV). 7. How does the author establish the importance of the study (e.g., number of persons affected, seriousness of the problem, gap in the literature)? Indicate where you found it in the article. The researchers established the importance of study by quoting relevant statistics and literature reviews supporting the necessity of further research. The first sentence of the introduction carries relevant data on survival rates of stroke and its consequences on caregivers. Relying on literature reviews, it is stated that earlier studies have demonstrated negative physical and mental consequences for the caregivers. Most frequently studied area was the prevalence of emotional disorders, whereas physical impact received less attention. “Furthermore, the majority of studies have been cross-sectional, thereby limiting the understanding of the evolution of the caregiving role” (White et al, 2003). Hence, cohort study to examine the impact of stroke survivor and caregiver characteristics on HQRL and QoL is necessitated. These assertions have been incorporated in the introduction part of the article. 8. How many paragraphs are in the literature review (from paragraph B1 to the last paragraph before the Methods section)? What are the major topics in the literature review? What headings are used in the literature review? There are mainly seven paragraphs in the literature review section. The literature review begins with definition of HRQL and QoL, and their importance in health care research. Then different research approaches used to study stroke care and their shortcomings are discussed. Further arguments are centered on psychiatric morbidity in caregivers and focuses on depression and anxiety. The article did not assign any sub-headings to literature review part. 9. Is a theoretical framework used? If so, which one? Is the framework written by a nurse? The theoretical framework for the study is derived from Montreal Cohort Study by Mayo et al (2002). 10. How many references are given in the reference list? Scan them and determine how current they are with respect to the publication date of the article. Also indicate approximately how many are published in nursing journals. There are 65 references, in which 28 (more than 50%) are published 10 years before the article was written. There is only one reference journal related to nursing. 11. Identify the research design. What are the characteristics of this design? If it is an experimental or quasi-experimental design, diagram it using the R-O-X system. White et al (2003) selected only those caregivers who were interviewed in both the first and second years of their care giving role, and ultimately there were totally 97 caregiver stroke survivor dyads and uses experimental design to analyze the findings References Bond, Elain., et al. (2003). Trauma: Needs of Family Members of Patients with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Critical Care Nurse, 23, 63-72. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/cgi/content/full/23/4/63 White, C L., et al. (2003). Evolution of the caregiving experience in the initial 2 years following stroke. Research on Nursing and Health, 26 (3), 177-89. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12754726?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum Read More