The Caregiving Profession - Assignment Example

critique REVIEW (NAME) (COURSE) (INSTITUTION) (INSTRUCTOR’S NAME) 5/01/09 Introduction Care giving profession is complicated and the stakeholders face numerous challenges regardless of their position in care giving. Research had been conducted in care giving and health care arena by various researchers in an attempt to improve or demystify various issues in the sector. The research methodology is very important in adding value and validating results in a research study. In this paper the research article by Mat Lundstrom et al. will be reviewed and criticized. This will look at the strengths of the research, limitation and suggestion of other methods suitable for future research on care giving of people with learning disability. The research uses questionnaires as the sole data collection method and this paper suggests observation and interviews as appropriate in strengthening the research findings. Analysis of data was done quantitatively and other methods including Giorgi’s methodology has been put forward in this paper for further research. This paper is a critique review of the research article; “Prevalence of violence and its relation to caregivers’ demographics and emotional reactions” by Mat Lundstrom et al. The research will be criticized in details through quantitative research critique techniques. This critique will focus on both the weakness and the strengths of the research based on the following components: Definition of the research problem Literature review The research design Data collection strategies Data analysis strategies Interpretation of the result finding Ethical consideration Methodological approach Research is essential in every aspect of life. In provision of care especially health care provision, various researches have been carried out in improving and demystifying the care provision in the care giving profession. Various research methods are applied depending on the type of research and the aim of the research. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods have been widely used in care giving research. These two methods of research can contribute to useful knowledge in care giving especially for people with learning disability. In research it has become useful to use multidimensional research that includes both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Therefore the polarization of this two research methods is no longer in existence and one cannot entirely work on its own. In the research article by Lundstrom, quantitative research was used and analysis performed through various statistical analyses which are entirely qualitative. In the research, all the variables were dependent except for one daytime which was the only dependent variable. This research method is focused on statistical data available or acquired. In the research by Lundstrom, questionnaires were given to registered nurses, assistant nurses and nurses’ aides. Other care givers who were not directly care givers but were employed in the group homes such as paramedical staff, cleaners and cooks as well as administrators were exempted from the study. The questions were not open ended as they were semi structured hence guided the participant in the kind of the response he or she should provide. This is one of the weaknesses of this research methodology which uses closed ended questionnaires as it limits the care givers on telling stories about the challenges they face in providing care to residents which may also be useful in drawing out conclusions. The questionnaires used in this research were not designed purposely for this study as they had been developed for investigation of community based care for the elderly which might have great influence on the results. Qualitative research is appropriate in the study of human behavior through experiences. It involves interactive process instead of linear. This is essential in asking a general question which refines the intended meaning of results of the research as the research continues. The qualitative research tries to understand the whole phenomenon in the context of the research field. This is done through inductive reasoning with no preconceived ideas about the study outcomes as it involves the investigation of individual experiences of the care givers and the residents in a group home in a naturalistic setting that put meaning to the theory and practice care giving and for further research work. The qualitative phenomenological research is common and is interested in descriptive data rather than numerical data. The phenomenological qualitative research is flexible and people centered which enhances the respondents in the research to be true to their response, that is, it increases the credibility of the data obtained through questionnaires. Considering that the care givers have various roles in the group homes, guideline questions are important in producing reliable research result. Qualitative research is holistic and has continuous analysis of data to invent successive strategies. Quantitative research used by Lundstrom however has strengths over qualitative research as it applies deductive reasoning. It offers numerical data that allows the researcher to reject or accept the data in relation to the formulated hypothesis. In the research article there was no null hypothesis to guide the information collected during the research. The questionnaires given to the care givers in the group home for persons with learning disabilities included demographics which were necessary in data analysis. Considering that the different nurses come from different societies and have differing personal attributes could have brought about controversy in answering the question. Violence was therefore defined in the article to give the research a definite direction and guide the respondents on what violence really meant. According to the research, violence was categorized into physical, psychological and sexual violence. Quantitative research gives an analysis of the real data. It does breaks down data into meaningful conclusion. In quantitative research data is numerical and therefore statistical data analysis methods are deployed to come out with information emphasizing objectivity. This gives strength to the research by Lundstrom et al. In the research article by Lundstrom, quantitative research has been singly used in establishing the prevalence of violence of caregivers for persons with learning disabilities. The study should have incorporated qualitative research as it is appropriate for study of human behavior. Problem definition Research in the care giving is endless and is important in filling in gaps in knowledge that is needed for care givers of persons with learning disability. The purpose of a research is a clear and concise statement of a specific goal, aim or objective of the research study generated from the research problem. There are three major characteristics which a good problem should hold; The problem statement should clearly identify the variables under consideration. Should specify the group of population to be studied Should involve the possibility of empirical testing. The article by Lundstrom et al. the statement of the problem in the research is clearly stated in the very first paragraph of the article. It has also been expounded into more than just a problem by describing the methodology of research that would be applied in the research. The problem states, “The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence for violence towards caregivers working in group homes for people with learning disability and also examining the relationship between violent incidences and care givers demographics” This definition of the research problem is descriptive of the nature of research that one expects and the purpose of carrying the research is vivid to the reader. In fact the introduction of the articles is a summary of every aspect of the research which puts the reader at toes (Trafford, 1997 p 54-87). The reader also gets to know the extent at which the research goes into investigation of the problem. Literature review In research, literature review is usually a written summary of the position of the existing knowledge on a research problem. Literature review is the use of theoretical and empirical sources to form a clear picture of what is known and what is not known in regard to the statement of the problem which gives the basis of the conducted study. In the present research by Lundstrom, a lot has been written on existing information about violence to caregivers. This gives strength to the research. Research design Research design is the recipe for conducting a research study and is responsible for optimizing control over factors that could get in the way with the validity of the findings. The research design controls and guides planning and implementation of a research study in order to achieve the desired results and findings (Richard & Griffin, 1994 p 90-165). In Lundstrom research, the research design used is too weak to draw out conclusions. The use of questions which had been developed for other research may invalidate the conclusions drawn out from the research. The study was done in only one institution hence the study design was not efficient in conducting this research and could not be valid to conclude the research. This limitation could be overcome by mailing questionnaires to other care givers in other countries’ institution of care provision for persons with learning disability Sampling Sampling is the selection of the elements from the entire population to be studied. These elements can be people, behaviors or events among any other element that can be researched on. In the present research article, the sample picked was from direct care givers and the distribution of questionnaires was random. Data collection strategies This is the process by which information to be used in study of the research problem is gathered. The method of data collection is determined by the research method or the aim of the study (Stephen & Tranford, 1999 p 231-267). In the article by Lundstrom, semi structured questionnaires were used. Another data collection method that would be appropriate for this research is recorded interviews. An interview enables the researcher to obtain some extra information which is important in drawing out conclusions. Data analysis strategies This is the systematic organization and synthesis of research data. It is aimed at giving meaning to the data or information collected. In the current article various statistical methods were used to draw out conclusion of the research. In the present research by Lundstrom, descriptive statistics were calculated in form of frequency distribution and percentages in relation to violence prevalence. Relationships between the various variables such as age, length of service, gender, time of service among other variables were analyzed by independent t-test, Pearson’s chi-square test and logistic regression analysis (Lundstrom et al. 2007 p 84-90). These methods can not alone describe human behavior and needed support of a qualitative approach. Giorgi’s methodology would be best applied in drawing out meaningful conclusions if qualitative research of recorded interviews was used. This could have added strength to the research (Giorgi, 1985 p 23-45). Interpretation of findings, Conclusion and Recommendations Findings of a research are the result of the analyses of the study information obtained from the research question. Conclusion on the other hand is the synthesis and explanation of the research findings. Result interpretation takes into account the objectives or goals of the study and the existing body of knowledge related to the research study. In the research by Lundstrom, it was found that violence towards caregivers is frequently occurring in daily work with persons with learning disabilities. Preventive strategies against violence have also been developed and recommended in this research and the researcher also encourages more research in his article on matters pertaining violence to caregivers of persons with learning disability. Ethical issues Every research should be guided by ethical principles which ensure respect for person, beneficence and justice. Beneficence entails the protection of the participant from harm which can either be psychological or physical. Ethical considerations in a research study outweigh the possibility of risks to the participants (Howard et al. 1999 p 76-79). In the research by Lundstrom, ethical issues were considered in the best way. The caregivers were informed on the purpose of the research and the importance of the research in care giving for persons with learning disability. Questionnaires were provided to individuals and never involved a third party. In giving information, anonymous was used to ensure that the information was neutral and safe to be used. Professional code of ethics has been respected in the Lundstrom research article i.e. Privacy, anonymity and confidentiality were observed during the research. The participants were free to withdraw from the study any time. However the fact that the questionnaires were distributed by managers would have some effect on anonymity. 28% external dropout rate was high and might have been caused by insecurity to participate as the activity was conducted by mangers. Word Count: 2063 References Burns, N. & Grove, K. (2007). Understanding nursing research: Building an evidence-based practice. (4thEd.). New York: McMillan. P 12-67. Burns, N. & Grove, K. (2007). Study Guide for understanding nursing research - building an evidenced-based practice. (4th ed.). London: Rutledge. P 98-134. Dorothy, D. & Hungler, F. (1997). 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