Write a critical appraisal that demonstrates comprehension of two qualitative research studies. Use the “Research Critique Guidelines – Part 1” document to organize your essay. Successful completion of this assignment requires that you provide rationale, include examples, and reference content from the studies in your responses.

Use the practice problem and two qualitative, peer-reviewed research article you identified in the Topic 1 assignment to complete this assignment.

In a 1,000–1,250 word essay, summarize two qualitative studies, explain the ways in which the findings might be used in nursing practice, and address ethical considerations associated with the conduct of the study.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

I will attach the previous paper with the qualitative studies, you can choose the 2 (out of the 3) you wish to use, as well as the rubric, and the research critique guidelines.

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Solution

Critique of Qualitative Research and Ethical Considerations

Occupational stress is prevalent in the healthcare sector, especially among nurses. Nearly 74% of care providers, including nurses, experience occupational stress in their practice. It affects their mental health and exposes them to conditions like depression, substance use, insomnia, burnout, higher suicidal thoughts, and other psychiatric disorders (Alkhawaldeh et al., 2020). It may also trigger coping responses like tobacco use and maladaptive behaviors (Elsayed et al., 2018; Guo et al., 2016; Kaur & Olive, 2016). Particularly, stressors in the healthcare sector include busy shifts, inadequate rest periods between shifts, time pressure, and home stressors. The PICOT aims to determine interventions to improve coping with these stressful environments by modifying a person’s perception of a stressful incident through adaptive learning of coping strategies to minimize the stress faced can be effective considering one cannot eliminate all stress triggers to improve job satisfaction.

Background of Studies

There is enough evidence showing that interventions of stress management improving the coping mechanisms of healthcare providers increase the level of job satisfaction.  O’Dowd et al. (2018) researched stress, coping, and psychological resilience among doctors or physicians. The study aimed to determine system and organizational factors that serve as stressors and practices or strategies physicians use to cope with stressors faced. Five themes emerged, the nature of resilience, the profession’s challenges, gratification associated with the job, resilience strategies or protective practices, and lastly, resilience strategies or the attitudes. The five themes indicated the perceived mechanisms organizations could utilize to enhance the coping strategies of nurses and raise their job satisfaction levels.

Similarly, Molehabangwe et al.’s (2018) study purposed to explore and describe the coping mechanism of nurses in a mental health establishment in South Africa’s North West province to improve stressful situation management strategies as they care for mental healthcare users (MHCUs). Four themes emerged, psychological support, coaching and mentoring, stakeholder support, and suggestions to improve coping. Every theme had sub-themes on which they based their recommendations. For psychological support, the subthemes included having an employee assistance program (EAP), appreciating and rewarding staff, and engaging employees. The sub-themes of coaching and mentoring included reflective meetings, personal and career development, and motivating staff. Regarding stakeholder support, the sub-themes were family members, community, management, government, and spiritual support.

Articles Support of Nursing Practice Issue

Molehabangwe et al.’s (2018) study supports the nursing practice concern of stress at workplaces in the healthcare sector. The authors present the mechanisms of coping with stress for nurses in a mental health facility. Thus, the article supports the PICOT question as it suggests some of the interventions one can adopt to enhance the coping capabilities of caregivers, reducing the effect of occupational stress and raising job satisfaction. It helps to answer the PICOT question that seeks to determine the influence of stress management interventions on job satisfaction. The groups used in the study compare to those used in the PICOT question. The experimental group used in the PICOT is the one receiving the nurse education interventions to address coping skills for work-related stress, and the control group receives no intervention. In the study, the participants represent the group receiving the intervention in the PICOT. The authors used thematic or content-based analysis to explore the coping strategies of nurses to stressors. This method compares to that of PICOT, education interventions as a coping mechanism with work-related stress in healthcare.

Similarly, O’Dowd et al.’s (2018) study supports the nursing practice health issue of stress at the workplace in healthcare settings. The authors address stress, coping, and psychological resilience among physicians. The findings help explain the PICOT question that seeks to determine the influence of stress management programs on job satisfaction among nurses. The study had one group that compares to the PICOT’s experimental group. The participants of this group will receive education interventions on coping mechanisms of stress with the aim of improving job satisfaction. The stress management program used in the study is BREATHE that compare with the education programs suggested in the PICOT.

Methods

There is no big difference in the methods used by the two articles. This is because both the articles used a qualitative research approach, and they used deductive content or thematic analysis to interpret the collected data. Specifically, Molehabangwe et al. (2018) used a contextual research design and qualitative-explorative-descriptive aiming to describe and explore the coping mechanisms of nurses in a mental health establishment in South Africa’s North West province. One of the benefits of this research design was that it helped the authors collect data in the field site where nurses face the problem being studied. They obtained rich descriptive data by probing deeply about the phenomenon through structured interviews. However, this approach has its disadvantages, like the data collection process being time-consuming and findings being difficult to generalize to the study population.

Similarly, O’Dowd et al. (2018) applied qualitative research methods and collected data using semi-structured interviews from 68 Irish physicians. They analyzed obtained data through deductive content analysis. The advantages of using a semi-structured interview are that the researcher can generate a large amount of detail and is easy and reliable to analyze. The disadvantage is that there is no guarantee that participants will respond honestly.

Results of Studies

O’Dowd et al. (2018) presented five themes, which included the nature of resilience, the profession’s challenges, gratification associated with the job, resilience strategies or protective practices, and lastly, resilience strategies or attitudes. The nature of resilience showed the perception of participants towards resilience. Most viewed resilience as not thriving in stressful conditions but coping with stress triggers. The participants also named challenges associated with their profession that were stress triggers and threatened their well-being. Among them were inadequate resources, heavy workloads, and long shifts. With respect to the theme of gratification related to the job, the authors captured workplace aspects like medical efficacy gratification that support resilience. The theme of protective practices or resilience strategies captured the views of the participants concerning coping behaviors beneficial to their wellbeing such as spending time with family and friends. The last theme that emerged was attitudes or resilience strategies protecting against burnout and stress.

Molehabangwe et al. (2018) used thematic analysis, and four primary themes emerged, psychological support, coaching and mentoring, stakeholder support, and suggestions to improve coping. Every theme had sub-themes on which the authors based their recommendations. Relating to psychological support, the sub-themes that emerged were staff reward and appreciation, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provision, and employee engagement. For psychological support, they included having an employee assistance program (EAP), appreciating and rewarding staff, and engaging employees. The sub-themes of coaching and mentoring included reflective meetings, personal and career development, and motivating staff. Regarding stakeholder support, the sub-themes were family members, community, management, government, and spiritual support.

Ethical Consideration

There are ethical considerations during research. Those considered in this discussion are informed consent and beneficence. Informed consent is the voluntary, knowingly, and intelligently participation of participants in the study (Navalta et al., 2019). Molehabangwe et al. (2018) observed informed consent by obtaining approval from the School of Environmental and Health Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Research Ethics Committee of the North-West University before the data collection process. The authors also acquired written approval from the Head of the health establishment of North West Provincial Department of Health. They explained the risks, advantages, and goals of the research. The participants were given the right to withdraw at any moment from the study by signing a consent form and information respondent sheet.

Similarly, O’Dowd et al. (2018) observed informed consent by offering a consent form to participants that entailed the goals, risks, and benefits associated with the study. The participants had the option to decline or consent and all those that who participated consented. Also, the authors acquired ethical from the Research Ethics Committee at Galway University Hospital.

The second ethical consideration is beneficence, which is the act of being advantageous and not causing any harm. Both Molehabangwe et al. (2018) and O’Dowd et al. (2018) adhered to beneficence. They analyzed the type, degree, and the number of anticipated risks. After conducting a risk-benefit analysis, they were able to present the risk and benefits associated to the study to the participants. It showed the authors’ commitment to minimize intentional harm.

Conclusion

Occupational stress is a concern in the healthcare sector. Following this statement, there is a need for adopting stress management programs or policies by healthcare organizations. The discussion of the articles indicates that any effective program improving coping mechanisms of care providers will significantly improve job satisfaction. Thus, this PICOT emphasizes on the effectiveness of stress management interventions like educational programs on coping mechanisms among healthcare professionals and the influence it has on job satisfaction. The outcome expected are higher job satisfaction, lower stress levels, and better stress coping mechanisms.

 References

Alkhawaldeh, J. F. M., Soh, K. L., Mukhtar, F., Peng, O. C., Alkhawaldeh, H. M., Al‐Amer, R., & Anshasi, H. A. (2020). Stress management training program for stress reduction and coping improvement in public health nurses: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of advanced nursing, 76(11), 3123-3135.

Elsayed, S., Hasan, A. A., & Musleh, M. (2018). Work stress, coping strategies and levels of depression among nurses working in mental health hospital in Port-Said city. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, 11(2), 157– 170. https://doi.org/10.1080/17542863.2017.1343859

Guo, J., Chen, J., Fu, J., Ge, X., Chen, M., & Liu, Y. (2016). Structural empowerment, job stress and burnout of nurses in China. Applied Nursing Research, 31, 41– 45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2015.12.007

Kaur, S., & Olive, K. (2016). A quasi experimental study to assess the effect of relaxation technique on stress related to adjustmental problems among staff nurses working in selected hospitals of district Jalandhar, Punjab, 2015. International Journal of Nursing Education, 8(2), 1– 5. https://doi.org/10.5958/0974-9357.2016.00040.4

Molehabangwe, K., Sehularo, L. A., & Pienaar, A. J. (2018). Nurses’ Coping Mechanisms in a Mental Health Establishment. Africa Journal of Nursing and Midwifery, 20(2), 19-pages.

Navalta, J. W., Stone, W. J., & Lyons, T. S. (2019). Ethical issues relating to scientific discovery in exercise science. International Journal of Exercise Science, 12(1), 1.

O’Dowd, E., O’Connor, P., Lydon, S., Mongan, O., Connolly, F., Diskin, C., … & Byrne, D. (2018). Stress, coping, and psychological resilience among physicians. BMC health services research, 18(1), 1-11. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-018-3541-8