Critical Appraisal of a Research Article

Critical Appraisal of a Research Article

 

            The author of this assignment will critically appraise a research report titled Culturally Diverse Family Members and Their Hospitalised Relatives in Acute Care Wards: A Qualitative Study. The author of this study is . This article was chosen for a number of reasons. First and most importantly, culture plays a very large part in the delivery of heath care and could largely affect the health of the individual. Second is that as health care practitioners, it is a learning opportunity to be able to know and discover how family members think and feel about their hospital stay with a relative.

In this critique, the author will examine both positive and negative aspects of the article and provide a personal evaluation using a systematic analysis of the research that follows a certain guide. Research is very valuable in healthcare today and is part of the evidence-based practice that underpins nursing. This stemmed from government policies and the introduction of clinical governance. Not all research is relevant and that is why it is important to do a thorough critique as will be done for this paper.

 

Critique

The title of the article, Culturally Diverse Family Members and Their Hospitalised Relatives in Acute Care Wards: A Qualitative Study, is very “concise” and “informative”. It provided the readers an idea of what the article is all about and what method is used in the study. The purpose of this study is to describe the experiences of culturally diverse family members who make the decision to stay with their relatives in acute care wards.

The article starts off with an abstract. An abstract lets the reader know whether a research article would be relevant to their practice or development. In this case, the abstract presented the objective, design, setting, subjects, method, findings, and conclusion of the study.

An introduction is provided after the abstract. The purpose of the introduction is to provide the readers an idea as to why the researcher thinks that the research is needed and could be useful. The introduction informs the readers that this study is specific for Australia. The study also describes the experiences of family members who have stayed with their relatives who have been admitted to the hospital.

No hypothesis is provided for this study and this is advantageous since this reduces the probability of bias. Although hypothesis can be ever changing to adapt to the findings others may view this approach as too flexible and inconsistent.  This particular research seems to have a more structured approach and use specific objectives to guide the research.

The review of literature is not extensive, in fact there is no heading at all for the literature review. Rather, this part was incorporated into the short introduction.

Next follows in the method used in the study. The research design used in this study is qualitative. There are four main approaches of a qualitative study namely phenomenology, ethnography, qualitative ethology and grounded theory. The author of this study did not clearly state what specifically was used in this research. However, the author has used the suitable approach for the study. Qualitative studies are more frequently used and provide relevant information to health care professionals.

Ethical approval was sought but the researcher may have felt this unnecessary because there were no health risks involved although there are moral issues. Simply, the author only wanted to research about how families feel and think about their stay with a relative in a hospital. Obviously consent would have to be obtained from those involved in return for assurances of privacy and confidentiality. Ethics approval was indeed obtained from the area health service and the university human research ethics committee. The study stated that all appropriate ethical aspects of the study were addressed to ensure the rights of the participants were protected. The author, however, failed to mention the ages of the participants of the study. If some of the interviewees are under 16 there may well be issues with consent. Those of a young age may also feel obliged or even coerced particularly as the researcher has made it known that finding willing participants was a difficult task.

The process that has been used to collect and analyse the data is not extensively detailed. This might be accepted but may cause difficulties for other researchers who also want to carry out a similar research.

The data collection method used is dependent upon the purpose, the design and costs involved, and in this case interviews are the preferred method. The use of open questions and trigger questions allows the respondents personal views to be discovered and initiates discussion, this should give the researcher as much information as possible to analyse. The report does not say how much participation the researcher had in the discussions and whether she used prompts. Each participant interview was scheduled at a time and place convenient for them. The interviews were approximately 45 minutes in duration and were audiotaped. Excerpts from the responses are included in the text, such as the question “Can you tell me about your experience of staying with your hospitalized relative on the ward?” Open ended questions were asked and the participants are encouraged to just let out what they feel, what they think, and what they have experienced.

As stated, the method used to collect data in this research approach is interviews, which take place in the participants’ favoured surroundings, and are known as field research. The interviews, mainly in the form of focus groups facilitate this although it is apparent that not everybody felt it was a comfortable setting in which to divulge their thoughts and feelings. Accordingly one to one interviews and written answers were utilised also. By collecting the information in these ways it is hoped that validity of the findings will be increased.

The article is comprehensible, purposeful and gives suitable overview of the study thus it is fitting. The research findings are presented logically. The researcher maintains her findings are the views of those interviewed and does not make generalizations.

However the researchers throughout this study failed to discuss the limitations of the study. Limitations of a study could include the sample size, the research design or methodology used. If researchers discuss these limitations it makes the study more credible as it demonstrates to readers that the researchers were aware of these limitations and took them in account when interpreting the data. However, upon reading the research, one limitation of this study could be that this is applied and set in Australia and may not produce the same results if the study was performed in another country.

The results show that the family members responses are categorized into three areas: carrying out in-hospital roles, adhering to ward rules, and facing concerns. In hospital roles vary and the problems with these roles mostly lie in the fact that many family members speak of a different language and sometimes create barriers to the care of the patient. Family members showed that they are adhering to ward rules. They think that they cannot go against the rules and all they do is obey them and complain in silence if they think there is something wrong or a disadvantage with the rule. Lastly, there are concerns by which the family members face in relation to the patient who is being hospitalized. These concerns could be person- or relative- centered.

The results of the study are beneficial mainly to health care professionals, especially health nurses who are the ones in the front line of care and are always dealing with patients of different cultures. This could pave way for more training courses for nurses that work with people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs. They would then be able to manage and handle culturally diverse patients, saving themselves and other hospital staff the hassles.

In conclusion it can be seen that this study is very important for nursing practice. Accommodating family members demands that nurses immediately meet the challenge to engage with them in active partnerships sharing common goals and understandings. These partnerships are vital and thus need to be fostered by both the nurses and the family members.

 

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