1

Assessment 2: Qualitative and Quantitative Research Publication Critique

Brendan Madden

School of Nursing and Health Sciences, Capella University

FPX 5005: Introduction to Nursing Research, Ethics, and Technology

Prof. Tiney Ray

October 13, 2022.

Strengths and Weakness of Quantitative Research Study

Physicians’ and nurses’ knowledge in palliative care: Multidimensional regression models

This article has addressed the problem of lack of awareness of palliative care among the

nursing staff. It has described that nurses and healthcare givers are not prepared adequately to

provide better palliative care. Numerous reasons for this inadequacy have been identified such as

lack of nursing education, limited content about pain management, and lack of awareness about

pain or palliative care. The main objective of this study is the assessment of knowledge about

palliative care among the nursing staff by utilizing the palliative care knowledge test (PCKT).

Many studies have been conducted in the past about the knowledge of palliative care but no one

has reported information about the significant aspects of palliative care which include pain,

gastric problems, philosophy, psychiatric issues, hyperpnoea, etc. Only this study has evaluated

and discussed the knowledge about these crucial aspects by conducting PCKT.

The descriptive study has been designed by surveying nurses at 40 multidisciplinary care

hospitals. A self-report questionnaire has been utilized in which each person had to select

correct, incorrect, or unsure. Then screening of the questionnaire was carried out to obtain the

correct ratio of responses which was approximately 93%. ANOVA and correlation were used to

perform statistical analysis. The results indicated that the overall knowledge about palliative care

was poor among the staff and they had better knowledge about psychiatric issues rather than

PCKT.

This research has significance as it is the first quantitative research that has explored and

assessed the five aspects of palliative care. This study provides significant information about

palliative care which will help healthcare professionals to overcome the barriers which hinder
 3

patient care in the pain. It has focused on the improvement and gaining of individual knowledge

about palliative care so that nurses can be well aware of the pain control mechanisms and can

provide high-quality care to patients.

This study did not provide interventions to improve the knowledge about palliative care

among healthcare professionals. It could provide strategies for creating awareness about pain

management by utilizing electronic and web devices, promoting training programs regarding

palliative care, and spreading comprehensive information about it. It could conduct online

surveys as well for the awareness of palliative care through social media.

Ethical Implications of the Quantitative studies

Ethical principles define the set of rules to design effective and safe research. These

ethical implications are important to protect the rights of research subjects or participants,

enhance the quality and validity of the research, and maintain the integrity of scientific research

(A Guide to Ethical Considerations in Research, 2021).

In this study, ethical approval was taken from the institutional ethical committee and

consent forms were taken from participants before their participation. The researchers in this

study have taken care of voluntary participation in that no one is forced to take part in this study,

they have taken informed consent from participants before proceeding with the research. They

have retained the anonymity and confidentiality of the participant’s data. They have tried to keep

the research as transparent as possible. The most important ethical consideration is maintaining

the safety of the participants and researchers have used an interactive approach for research

rather than the intervention approach minimizing the physical harm (Martín-Martín et al., 2021).
 4

Significance of the Research Problem

The problem addressed in this study is the lack of knowledge about palliative care. This

problem has elaborate and proved the importance of palliative care. Various studies have shown

the significance of knowledge about palliative care which states that knowledge of palliative care

among healthcare givers will enable them to help the patients to cope with any disease and pain

in the most effective way. They will be able to assess the symptoms of patients more accurately

and provide them with the best available treatment. It will improve the quality of life of the

patients and minimize the challenges that the family of the patients faces due to serious illness.

Consequently, it will help relieve the pain, address psychological concerns, coordinate care, and

ultimately improve the quality of services provided to the patients (Chan et al., 2022).

Evaluation of the Quantitative Research for Informed Patient Care Decisions

This research study is a significant source of information for making informed decisions

about patient care. The main topic of the study is palliative care and the healthcare professionals

work on the management of patient pain. For this purpose, they make decisions for the best

health of the patients. They assist the patients and their families in taking complex decisions by

conducting evidence-based practice. The study has urged healthcare professionals to develop

more knowledge about palliative care so that they can provide emotional support to the patients

to cope with the stress. This has proved successful in the reduction of anxiety among patients,

has fewer conflicts in the decisions about the treatment of patients, and has developed the best

understanding of patient pain among nursing staff. The study could be improved by further

working on the development of strategies to relieve the stress of patients that they develop due to

being ill, and utilizing technological platforms for spreading awareness about palliative care

(Martins Pereira et al., 2018).

Strengths and Weakness of Qualitative Research Study

Communicative and supportive strategies: A qualitative study investigating nursing staff’s

communicative practice with patients with aphasia in stroke care.

This study has provided the details of the effect on communication practices of nursing

staff with aphasia patients in the context of interactions for stroke care. It has also provided

details on the use of supportive techniques and procedures like the SCA (Supported

Conversation for Adults with Aphasia) method to improve communication with patients. The

qualitative research has been designed accompanied by observations and interviews. Inductive

and deductive content analysis approaches were adopted by the researchers. The study has

addressed the problem of communication barriers and techniques that nursing staff experience

for aphasia or stroke patients.

The data was collected from the two stroke units for rehabilitation and one acute unit for

stroke. The data has been collected by the method of observations and structured interviews. The

duration of observations was three weeks and patients of different genders having severe and

mild symptoms were observed. The main observations were centered on the nursing staff and

their skills. Open-ended questions were asked in the interviews. The interview participants were

eight nurses and two nurse assistants.

The descriptive qualitative research method has been used by the researchers in this

study. The results have shown that the communication practices of nursing staff were influenced

by environmental factors. Most of the nurses expressed that communicating with stroke patients

needs time, quietness, and a lot of effort while only a few of them told that they do

communication with aphasia patients properly as it is the backbone of good nursing services.
 6

The strength of this study is that it has addressed one of the main and serious health

issues which is stroke. Stroke is the second leading cause of death among people and causes

serious disabilities and an increased rate of mortality. This study has also addressed the need of

working on communication techniques to improve the communication skills of patients who

have developed hearing as well as visual impairments. The study conducted structured

interviews and also recorded the audio of the participants which was very supportive in

analyzing the results of the study carefully. The data collection methods increased the credibility

of the results. COREQ guidelines were adopted for the study which enhanced the trustworthiness

of the study. It is the first study that has described the long-term effects of the implementation of

SCA methods on stroke patients.

There are various limitations of this study. First of all, the study did not include the

perspectives of the patients regarding communication with the nursing staff. Second, the study

was carried out as only a single-centered stroke unit. The observations recorded were only in the

day shift, there was no record in the evening time. The results relevant to the implementation of

the SCA method took place about 5 years before the study. These weaknesses have affected the

result’s relevance in the context of nursing care. The study could be made better by conducting

research at multiple stroke units and considering the observations in both shifts (Loft et al.,

2022).

Ethical Implications of Qualitative Research

The ethical considerations have been adopted by the researchers. The study was approved

by the Danish Data Agency. The researchers followed the ethics of Helsinki. Staff and patients

were informed before the study. Volunteer participation was only made in the study. The

researchers ensured the confidentiality of the participant’s data. The written consent forms were
 7

taken from the participants. If the patient was not in the position to give consent, then the family

of the patient was involved in the consent. The research performed is the least invasive and gave

no harm to any of the participants (Taquette & Borges da Matta Souza, 2022).

Significance of the Research problem

The research problem addressed in the study has significant importance. The rate of

incidence of stroke and aphasia is increasing globally which results in various kinds of

disabilities in people including hearing impairments as well. This study has focused on the need

for communication techniques to improve the condition of visually and hearing-impaired

patients. The study has described the methods in detail that how nursing staff can improve

communication with patients which can prove helpful in the real context. However, the staff

needs to develop the responsibility of self-realization and psychosocial cooperation or support. It

will improve the patient’s condition and will help in the fast recovery of patients (Charalambous

& Kambanaros, 2021).

Evaluation of the Qualitative Research for Informing Patient Care Decisions

This study is a valuable source for informing decisions about patient care. This study has

elaborated on the process of making decisions about patient care. The healthcare professionals

will develop strategies to communicate with patients that what they feel and to what extent they

feel relieved after treatment procedures. After communicating properly with patients, they will

be able to make the best decision about patients that which treatment is best for that patient. They

will consult and coordinate with the family of the patients and will recommend the best treatment

after taking suggestions from the family (Prick et al., 2021).

References

A guide to ethical considerations in research. (2021, October 18). Scribbr.

https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/research-ethics

Chan, S., Wilson, D. M., & Santos Salas, A. (2022). Examining the value and roles of palliative

care nurse practitioners: A scoping review. Progress in Palliative Care, 1–8.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09699260.2022.2120725

Charalambous, M., & Kambanaros, M. (2021). The importance of aphasia communication

groups. In www.intechopen.com. IntechOpen.

https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/79482

Loft, M. I., Volck, C., & Jensen, L. R. (2022). Communicative and supportive strategies: A

qualitative study investigating nursing staff’s communicative practice with patients with

aphasia in stroke care. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, 9, 233339362211108.

https://doi.org/10.1177/23333936221110805

Martín-Martín, J., López-García, M., Medina-Abellán, M. D., Beltrán-Aroca, C. M., Martín-de-

las-Heras, S., Rubio, L., & Pérez-Cárceles, M. D. (2021). Physicians’ and nurses’

knowledge in palliative care: Multidimensional regression models. International Journal

of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(9), 5031.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18095031

Martins Pereira, S., Fradique, E., & Hernández-Marrero, P. (2018). End-of-life decision making

in palliative care and recommendations of the council of Europe: Qualitative secondary

analysis of interviews and observation field notes. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 21(5),

604–615. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2017.0403
 9

Prick, J. C. M., Zonjee, V. J., van Schaik, S. M., Dahmen, R., Garvelink, M. M., Brouwers, P. J.

A. M., Saxena, R., Keus, S. H. J., Deijle, I. A., van Uden-Kraan, C. F., van der Wees, P.

J., & Van den Berg-Vos, R. M. (2021). Experiences with information provision and

preferences for decision making of patients with acute stroke. Patient Education and

Counseling. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2021.08.015

Taquette, S. R., & Borges da Matta Souza, L. M. (2022). Ethical dilemmas in qualitative

research: A Critical Literature Review. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21,

160940692210787. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221078731