Assignment: Article Critique Assignment

Assignment: Article Critique Assignment

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: Assignment: Article Critique Assignment

Title: Assignment: Article Critique Assignment

Grey, M., Whittemore, R., Jaser, S., Ambrosino, J., Lindemann, E., Liberti, L., Northrup, V., … Dziura, J. (2009). Effects of coping skills training in school-age children with type 1 diabetes. Research in nursing & health, 32(4), 405-18.

The article Effects of Coping Skills Training in School-age Children with Type 1 Diabetes by Grey et al. (2009) sought to determine the efficacy of two interventions on the management of TID by school-going children. Using a stress adaptation model, the authors wanted to establish the physiological and psychosocial adaptation degree of the sample to the stress of living with type 1 diabetes. Under the hypothesis that coping strategy training influences people’s response, context, and adaptation, Grey et al. ( 2009)  purposed to “determine the effect of group-based CST for school-aged children with T1D and their parents compared to an attention-control group receiving supplemental general diabetes education (GE) over a period of a year on children’s metabolic control, QOL, depressive symptoms, coping, self-efficacy, and family functioning at 12-month follow-up” (p. 4 ) using a randomized clinical trial. In order to accomplish this, the authors created a two group experimental design whose sample consisted of children between the ages of 8-12 and who had insulin resistance. They initially targeted a sample size of 100 children who would become subjected to coping skills training and group education as the intervention methods for the study. Using SAS 9.2 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC), Grey et al. ( 2009) analyzed the data collected on metabolic control, child quality of life (QOL), child depressive symptoms, coping, self-efficacy, and family function variables.

The results of the study revealed non-significant outcomes as they did not add any new concept to the existing literature on the subject. However, the authors noticed that both group education and coping skills training led to the improvement of the group over a period. Consequently, the participants demonstrated enhanced impact of diabetes, fewer depressive symptoms, better T1D self-efficacy, improved diabetes coping, and substantially reduced parental control. Thus, the authors proffered that the findings implied that the group-based strategy possessed a better intervention outcome for the sample in question. Having said that, the study also revealed that CST intervention did not produce the desired effect of enhanced metabolic control, family functioning, self-efficacy, coping, depressive symptoms and quality of life, in contrast to the study’s hypothesis. In conclusion, the study recommends future research to examine the efficacy of CST on subjects of racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity in addition to children of elevated HbA1c levels as well as those with multifarious family functioning and psychosocial adjustment.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Study

The researchers postulate that they employed the usage of a randomized trial approach for the study. During the study, the authors used trained research assistants to collect data at baseline, and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after randomization. Thus, the researchers describe the data collection method in sufficient details as expected of a randomized trial study. Indeed, the design and sample of the study received considerable attention from the researchers. As evidenced from the article, minimization of bias occurred in the study since the research assistants became blinded to the group assignments. Pursuant to observations made by numerous studies on the significance of blindness in randomized control trail, the elimination of bias in a study makes it an important aspect of RCT and gives it the edge over other methodologies in research studies (Mansournia, Higgins, Sterne, & Hernán, 2017). In other words, the credibility of the study received a major boost because of the fact that the study design had some level of blindness.

Moreover, the study design utilized in the present article allowed for the existence of a controlled group allocation for both the CST and GE samples. As a consequence, the study enhanced the similarity of baseline features since the participants of the study possessed similar baseline features such as similar ages (8-12 years), suffering from T1D and underwent insulin treatment for at least 6 months, as well as free of other significant health conditions. The existence of these commonalities in the study sample allowed the researchers to establish a basis for their statistical hypothesis (In Asche, 2016). Therefore, the study design elected for this research enabled the research to

The approach adopted by the researchers in writing the discussion has consistency with the characteristics of a good research article. Mack (2018) postulates that a discussion section offers readers specific guidance regarding the accomplishments of the study, its scientific significance, as well as the next course of action that researchers should undertake. This article started its discussion by revisiting the purpose of the study. Indeed, the authors continued by stating that the intention of the CST intervention that formed the foundation of the study involved offering a preventative intervention for children going to school who may have type 1 diabetes. In addition, the discussion section needs to address the limitations of the study with regards to numerous aspects such as study design. In the article, the authors highlight several limitations that the study experienced. Key among these limitations include factors such small sample size and the absence of racial and economic diversity as the participants predominantly came from White, upper class children. Therefore, the study’s discussion demonstrates certain points of strengths that adhere to standard procedures for scientific and journal research articles.

The study as conducted by Grey et al. (2009) wanted to establish the role of CST in the management of type 1 diabetes in adolescent students. The authors shared important results regarding the application of CST vis-à-vis GE in the process. However, the authors admitted to having a small sample size in the range of 100 students initially. Due to various factors, the final number (82) of the participants reduced the sample size even further. Specifically, the article points out that 24% of the projected participants did not participate in group-based intervention due to scheduling bottlenecks, which resulted in an absence of exposure leading the researchers to eliminate them from the study. Consequently, the small sample size negatively impacts the generalizability of the study results.

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Moreover, the sample used for the study did not demonstrate diversity across various spectra. The moderators involved in determining the intervention efficacy in children suffering from type 1 diabetes included socioeconomic status, agent, and sex. According to the article, the study participants predominantly came from the middle-to-upper income family that reflected the clinic population. In contrast, previous research on the subject supports the usage of participants with variable socio-economic status, which provides a significance impact on psychosocial adjustment and metabolic control. Nevertheless, due to the absence of such variation in the sample, the achieved results, which were inconsistent with the study hypothesis, accrued. The absence of diversity in the present study sample does not confine itself to the socioeconomic status. According to the analysis of the study sample, the participants only came from the predominant White ethnicity. The absence of minorities in the study thus makes the applicability of the results questionable. Numerous researchers have discussed the significance of racial diversity in study samples such as ones related to the effect of certain interventions on long-term disease conditions. Conclusively, they assert that the presence of such diversity offers a study validity in terms of the applicability of the results since different ethnicities are impacted differently (Konkel, 2015). As a matter of fact, most of the interventions applied in the present study could produce significant results on minority children, which would have given the researchers a valuable insight into the matter. Nevertheless, the present study lacks this ethnic variation and the authors do not recommend it as a future area of interest for researchers. Therefore, the absence of variations in the socio-economic and racial status of the study participants negatively impacts the generizability and validity hence applicability of the study results.

The third weakness of the study could also have correlation to the statistical methodologies adopted to both gather and analyze data. An evaluation of the article reveals the absence of a comparatively robust demonstration concerning the construct reliability and/or validity. Research works such as Green et al. (2016) reveal that the absence of validity and/or reliability normally accrues from the instrument elected by the researchers. In the present article, the researchers chose to utilize several subscales to acquire data for the study mediators. In particular, the usage of DFBS Guidance and Control and Coping How Upsetting in the study negatively impacted the instrument’s internal consistency reliability. The presence of this phenomenon in the study thus resulted in increased measurement variance. In other words, the usage of DFBS Guidance and Control and Coping subscales lowered the internal consistence of the T1D scale hence leading to lowered reliability of the study measurement (Polit, 2014). Thus, a noticeable weakness appears in the statistical instruments adopted by the researchers.

Changes to Improve the Quality of the Study

The results of the study indicated that the usage of CST lacks considerable effect on the mediators of Type 1 Diabetes in school-going children of the middle to upper social classes. This observation does not align with the hypothesis presented by the article. Whereas several factors could lend an explanation as to why the researchers arrived at this conclusion, none do so more than the observed weaknesses of the study. Therefore, in order for the quality of the study to improve and make observations that will influence the nursing field, the authors may need to address some of the aforementioned weaknesses while capitalizing on the study’s strengths.  Given that bias in the study was minimized during the participant selection process, the researchers will need to improve on the sample size (Mack, 2018). In order to do this, the study will have to increase the number of participants from 100 to 200. Similarly, the study needs to ensure that all the participants take part in the process. An evaluation of the article identified scheduling conflicts as one of the issues that reduced the participation of 24 children. Thus, through collaboration with the children’s parents, the researchers need to devise a schedule devoid of such conflicts to increase the level of participation.

Contemporary governance documents on research explore the need for the body of research evidence to demonstrate population diversity. Konkel (2015) suggests that determining who will benefit from an intervention regarding a certain disease condition largely depends on who makes the composition of the study. The absence of such diversity makes researchers to succumb to the fallacy that extrapolating the results that predominantly targeted one group to another group makes their works consequential. In the current article, the researchers will have to discover ways of diversifying the socio-economic status of the study sample as well as the racial composition of the participants so as to make an appealing generalizability regarding their results. To achieve this objective, the researchers may need to vary the settings for recruiting children. In the article, the participants exclusively came from a pediatric diabetes clinic from the Northeast, which implicitly reveals the lofty socio-economic status of the concerned parents hence the potential study participants. However, the researchers could remedy the issue by additionally recruiting study participants from similar clinics in minority areas. Barr (2014) observes that minority populations in the United States have historically registered lower socio-economic indices hence they form a good source of ensuring both racial and socio-economic diversity in a study.  Hence, the inclusion of children from such regions alongside some from the study’s setting will ensure more diversity hence applicability of the study results.

 

1- Brief one to two paragraph overview of the study
2- Two to three strengths of the study and support for your selection (i.e. why is this a strength)
3-Two to three weaknesses of the study and support for your selection (i.e. why is this a weakness)
Note: The strengths and weaknesses you identified should be in relation to design, sampling, data collection, statistical analysis, results and discussion of the study
Proposed changes to improve the quality of the study, capitalizing on the strengths and improving on the weaknesses identified in the study
Summary of the implications for nursing practice
PLEASE USE 7 SOURCES NOT OLDER THAN 5 YEARS.

Implications for Nursing Practice

The findings of the study on other aspects other than the hypothesis have substantial implications. The study revealed that 11% of the participants showed elevated depressive symptoms at baseline. Given that measuring for these symptoms form the health promotional undertakings of nurses, it follows that the study has revealed to nursing practice the significance of screening for depression symptomatology for school-going children suffering from type 1 diabetes. Further, the study also highlighted the positive impact of insulin pump in type 1 diabetes patients from the age group in question. Nursing practice can thus benefit from the recommendation as they strive to promote the health of T1D students. Lastly, the study elevates the currency of psyscho-educational interventions for school children suffering from T1D as well as their parents so as to improve the health of the latter group. Nursing practice thus benefits from the recommendation as the study has provided one more intervention for these types of patients. Therefore, the practice of nursing, particularly regarding their role in health promotion activities among students with T1D has received significant support from the study.

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• Student paper example
• Citing Sources
• The Writing Center is a great resource