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Quantitative Research Critique
[Student’s Name]
PSY 326 Research Design
[Instructor’s Name]
[Date submitted]
Quantitative Research Critique
Introduction
The purpose behind writing this paper is to critically analyze a quantitative research study and to explore the extent of learning and effectiveness of specific relaxation technique on the part of nurses in eliminating their stress, depression and anxiety responses and enhancing wellbeing, and the extent to which they are able enough to teach this technique to their patients.
“The effects of the relaxation response on nurses’ level of anxiety, depression, well-being, work-related stress, and confidence to teach patients” is the title of study and the author is Calder Calisi belonging to the Massachusetts General Hospital.
In a nutshell, the researcher intends to introduce an effective stress reducing technique in the nursing staff because nursing profession is enriched with emotional and psychological distress that require instant intervention. Besides this, he also desires to explore the extent of nurses’ knowledge about newly developed relaxation technique and how well they can teach this to their patients.
Following hypotheses were generated for the study; (1) Nurses are highly receptive for relaxation responses (RR) (2) Relaxation responses have positive effects on the level of depression, anxiety, job-stress and wellbeing of nurses (3) Nurses are confident in teaching relaxation responses to their patients.
Nurses encounter various emotional traumas during their daily practice ranging from painful physical conditions of their patients to the lingering sense of hopelessness in the terminally ill patients. This situation requires them to develop effective self care techniques such as relaxation responses (RR). Literature review highlights the significance of this technique and how well it managed to eliminate the level of stress and other undesirable feelings in nursing staff.
As far as biasness in the selection of studies is concerned, I did not find any such trend because it includes both conventional and recent body of literature that is widely-acknowledged by the researchers all over the world. Moreover, cultural biasness was also eliminated through adding international literature.
Summary of Methods
This study was experimental because subjects were introduced with a controlled condition (IV)—the relaxation responses—that induced changes in the mental state of nurses (DV). Sample was drawn from the nurses’ population by using random sampling technique. After manipulating the condition, data was obtained in form of written and verbal responses.
Researcher used validated instruments such as self report inventories to measure the level of depression, anxiety, job-stress and wellbeing. Data was analyzed using appropriate data analysis tool; SPSS. A t-test was used for measuring the level of depression, anxiety, job-stress and wellbeing before and after manipulating the relaxation responses. Other hypotheses were tested using verbal responses. Validity and reliability was struggled to ensure using quantitative research design, random sampling technique and SPSS.
Summary of Results
Statistically significant results were found in the study and there was no estimation about the effect size of the results because it was a pilot study. A significant difference was found between the t-test scores of subjects concerning depression, anxiety, job stress and wellbeing before and after manipulating the independent variable. Hence, conclusion section represents similar interpretation.
Ethical Aspects
Before conducting the study, a written permission from the Ethical Review Committee of the hospital was obtained; likewise subjects were made to sign the written informed consent about their study-participation as well; their identity and information was also kept confidential.
Evaluation of Study
Experimental design was used in the study that was satisfactorily alright because it was more appropriate to introduce relaxation responses (RR) and examine the prospective changes statistically than merely “asking” about the effectiveness of RR from the subjects. The weakness mentioned by the researcher was small sample size as it was a pilot study and I examined the same limitation which was addressed by the researcher in the suggestion section. Moreover, experimental method was the best suited method to analyze these variables.
Conclusion
It was a pilot experimental study aimed at exploring the level of reception of nurses regarding Relaxation Response (RR) technique, how it helped reducing the level of depression, anxiety, job-stress and enhancing wellbeing of nurses and to what extent nurses felt confident in teaching RR to their patients. Findings suggest that nurses showed satisfactory receptiveness about learning RR and teaching it to patients however their depression, anxiety, job-stress and wellbeing level did not undergo considerable alteration. The study design, sample selection technique, tools of data analysis and ethical considerations are worth appreciation however limited sample size acted as a threat to reliability and validity of the results that can be addressed in future research.
References
Calder Calisi, C. (2017). The effects of the relaxation response on nurses’ level of anxiety, depression, well-being, work-related stress, and confidence to teach patients. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 35(4), 318-327. doi: 10.1177/0898010117719207
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