Issues and Innovations in Nursing Practice, Article Critique Example

This article on stroke survivors and their families investigates various integrations with the message of hope and family health promotion as well as the quality of life after stroke. This takes place by testing the hypotheses already researched from the Developmental Model of Health and Nursing. There has been little attention to the actual family members and their impact on stroke victims. The article discusses how the strengths of family members and their promotion of healthy behavior help with their loved ones after a stroke.

The study design consisted of a descriptive and cross-sectional design which was correlational in nature. This particular design was used because the relationships among hope, health, work, and quality of life have not all been previously studied together in the population of stroke victims and their families. There was a convenience sample of 40 families (one member of each family had already experienced a stroke). Any families were considered if they understood the information, had been discharged at least three months prior to data collection, and were able to communicate responses verbally or use an alternate method such as visible communication. A few of these families were excluded on the premise of the stroke victim becoming deceased during the experiment, so only 40 participating families remained.

These families were asked to complete parallel questionnaires in a private setting of their choosing. One partner completed the family’s demographic information. The questionnaires were about 30 minutes in length and participants received a token payment of $10/family. Medical records were then sought on the families for additional data and the analysis began.

The study was approved by the Ethics Review Board before data collection began and all participants were provided with detailed information as well as the assurance that all information provided would remain confidential in nature. All participants gave written consent before any data was obtained. As for confidentiality measures and anonymity, everything appears to have been accounted for in this study.

The design of the study and method of collection was also unbiased due to the exclusion criteria stating a certain amount of time during which candidates could be included/excluded from the study. This was proven to work, as we saw the number change from 48 to 40 from the initial stages to the end of data collection. As for data collection, I would have preferred for participants to have a standardized place to fill out questionnaires rather than a private setting of their choosing. This would have increased validity even more, especially since there was a token payment at the end of the study. However, I do not feel that is enough of a problem to warrant this being a huge problem with the study.

From the explanations given, all informed consent, validity measures, data collection methods, review board approval, and other such issues seem to have been handled in the utmost professional manner and the study was carried out with accuracy and reliability. There does not appear to be any bias and any limitations to the study are specifically stated in the article. An important note to point out was the extra measure the research team took for those participants who could not verbally communicate well. This was an example of the dedication they had to the study and having a fair, accurate, and reliable data set with which to base results on.