Widespread Health Condition Worldwide - Essay Example

Essay Critique

Health practitioners should always provide care that complies with the latest evidence-based practices. This process's core requirement involves appraising primary research for guidelines and insights on how to provide care using available evidence. Thus, a practitioner's ability to evaluate current research quality is key to improving one's ability to apply evidence, clinical, and theoretical knowledge. Evidence-based practice (EBP) integrated professional competence, expertise, patient preferences, and current research findings. However, identifying the relevance of "current evidence," practitioners must critically review and evaluate available current research studies. This way, healthcare professionals discern the usefulness, sufficiency, and quality of research for incorporation into their practice. As part of its evaluation of the Pottie et al. (2013)article, this essay evaluates a critical realist research study, cited below, and its implication in the management of diabetes, a widespread health condition worldwide. This critique utilizes the Ingham-Broomfield (2008) framework in its evaluation. The reviewer selected the Ingham-Broomfield framework as it provides clear and specific guidelines for addressing three key questions, namely:

• Are the study's results valid?
• What are the results?
• How its results improve diabetes management?

Using the Ingham-Broomfield framework facilitates evaluating the following aspects of APottie et al. (2013) article: title, author, date, journal, problem statement, research questions, literature review, methodology, research design, data analysis, results, discussion, and conclusion.

Title: Pottie, K., Hadi, A., Chen, J., Welch, V., & Hawthorne, K. (2013). Realist review to understand the efficacy of culturally appropriate diabetes education programs. Diabetic Medicine, 30(9), 1017-1025. https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.12188

The title of the review article offers a concise description of the research subject, indicating the type and purpose of the study. It piques the reader's interest because it is straightforward and self-explanatory. The inclusion of the phrase "realist review" Pottie et al. (2013), informs readers of the nature of the study article. From the title alone, it is apparent that the study is qualitative. In this way, it helps readers identify its relevance and applicability to healthcare practice settings.

Author: The article presents the author's academic credentials and occupations in a footnote. From this citation, the authors work in diverse nursing and healthcare facilities in the United Kingdom.

Date: The article does not indicate the study's data, though its acceptance date for 13 March 2013 indicates it is not a recent research study. However, it is relevant to present practice as it presents credible proof of the impact of providing culturally aware diabetes management interventions.

Journal: Pottie et al. (2013) published their article in the journal Diabetic Medicine, which disseminates diabetes management related research. It is an open-access journal based in the United Kingdom that publishes online and prints articles once a month. Members of its editorial board have exceptional qualifications in genetics, endocrinology, epidemiology, and diabetes technology research. They have credentials such as PhDs and doctorates, and work in various reputable institutions within the healthcare industry.

Abstract/Summary: the article's abstract summarizes the study's purpose, identifies the study's purpose, methodology, a summary of the results, related variables, and conclusion. However, it does not include the study hypothesis in this section nor state whether it is a qualitative or quantitative study.

Problem Statement: its problem statement is clearly defined, and the rationale is appropriate because only a few studies present empirical evidence of the efficacy of culturally aware diabetes interventions Pottie et al. (2013). Even so, it presents no research rationale that appears in the abstract.

Literature Search

In this article, the introduction sections and literature review sections are contiguous. Usually, these sections appear separately, but some journals might have their conventions. Pottie set all use the introduction to contextualize the study problem. They state the importance of culture in the management of diabetes. Besides that, the authors relate the impact that culturally aware intervention can have on the lives of minorities and other vulnerable populations. However, this review argues that the researchers should have separated the introduction and literature review sections. According to Ingham-Broomfield (2008), useful literature reviews provide critical analysis of current research studies and identity practice and knowledge gaps. For the present critique, the lack of a comprehensive literature review section is a limitation of Pottie et al. (2013). study.

Methodology

In the section, the researchers summarize the approach used in the study. Pottie et al. (2013) clearly identify knowledge and practice gaps, which comprise the study rationale. Moreover, the researchers address the suitability of the realist approach and address the study problem. According to Ivey (2020), the Methods identifies the appropriate philosophical paradigm for guiding a research study of this nature. Besides that, it explains the steps followed to collect, analyze, and report data. Accordingly, the Methods sections describes the study sample, the sampling technique, the data extraction, and the analysis approach. The study used a Content Mechanism and Outcome systematic and theory-driven approach to investigate the effectiveness of the culturally aware intervention in diabetes management.

Design

The research design refers to a framework, set of methods for collecting and analyzing data in a research problem. Different research frameworks confer various benefits and are suitable for studying specific problems. Accordingly, researchers must explain the research methodology used as it helps other researchers replicate and overcome the limitations of any particular study. In this way, researchers enhance their ability to ask relevant questions.

• Tools

In the article under review, Pottie et al. (2013) adopt a realist approach to analyze data from 11 randomized control studies on dealing with diabetes management interventions' efficacy. The team comprised two clinicians, a lead author, and two methodologists. It used a systematic and theory-driven paradigm to investigate the relationship between context, mechanism, and outcomes (CMO) of culture in the management of diabetes. During the data analysis phase, the researchers reviewed behavioral models regarding access to healthcare by the study population.

• Sample

Pottie et al. (2013) describe the study's participants were 1603 patients with Type II diabetes from 11 sample randomized control trials (RCTs) using the Cochrane review. Participants were from low and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Data extractions occurred using three RCTs and a literature review to narrow the potential studies. However, the study does not state its statistical sampling method, making it challenging to determine its findings' statistical significance.

• Ethics

• Pilot study

Results

The results section of Pottie et al. (2013) stands out for having been presented in a manner that the average readers can understand. For instance, the study participants and their demographic characteristics are carefully outlined. Most notably, the number of participants in the study is explicitly stated. The use of a number of subjects over 1000 in number is in line with research suggesting that small samples undermine statistical control (Varoquaux, 2018; Hennink et al, 2019). The presentation of these facts helps to defend compliance with the principle of inclusivity and ensure that the study's replicability. Another key strength from the Pottie et al. (2013) is the researchers take deliberate measures to communicate negative aspects of their study which research indicates points to minimal bias (Bird, 2020). More specifically, Pottie et al. (2013) note that challenges to the implementation of intervention programs resulted in high participant attrition rates.

Discussion/Recommendation

Pottie et al. (2013) present a conclusive take on the essence of cultural sensitivity when delivering diabetes management care. According to Ebrahimi and Swee Heng (2019), a robust discussion section must outline the key insights into the significance of the problem being addressed. In the present case, the researchers explore the essence of cultural sensitivity in treating and managing diabetes. Pottie et al. (2013) rightly argue that the presence of such barriers to care as language differences compound the difficulty experienced by minority ethnic groups in accessing diabetes care. The recommendations made by Pottie et al. (2013) are especially convincing because the article ties its arguments into other works already existing on the topic of diabetes management. Such efforts are indicated to improve a study’s credibility (Maggio et al., 2016). Most importantly, the researchers are quick to add that utilizing cultural sensitivity serves little purpose if such other considerations as consistent follow-up are ignored.

Conclusion

While the article by Pottie et al. (2013) lacks a clearly outlined conclusion section, the researchers close by exploring some of the weaknesses of their approach. One of the most prominent of these is the fact that the interventions suggested by the researchers were implemented in the absence of competing therapies. This, according to research, limits the generalizability of the study’s results as its recommendations assume the absence of competing factors (Rashid). Nonetheless, the study’s conclusions sets the tone for future research exploring methods that may be used to respond to the heterogeneity that impairs effective diabetes care delivery.