Critical Appraisal

A weakness of “A Descriptive Study of the Partner’s Experiences of Living with Severe Heart Failure” are the demographics of the partners’ sample. Convenience sampling was used in this study. The sample size was small and consisted of only 14 partners. 92.9% of the sample were married to the patient and Caucasian; 78.6% of them were women. The sample lacked ethnic diversity. The sample should have also included children and other significant others. The mean age of the sample of partners was 64.85 +/- 7.68 years ( Imes et.al, 2011). Convenience sampling offers a small opportunity to control biases; and therefore is a weak approach (Grove et. al, 2013).
A strength of the study included the three themes that were collect information about the life experiences with patients with congestive heart failure. The themes were: “My Experience of HF In My Loved One”, Experience with Healthcare Providers”, and the Patient’s Experience of HF as Perceived by the Partner.” The data collected from the themes were reliable compared to previous studies related to experiences with a partners with HF (Imes et. al, 2011).The qualitative study consisted of a problem statement, purpose and research questions, and literature review (Grove et. al, 2013).
Reference
Grove, S., Burns, N., Gray, J. (2013). The Practice of Nursing Research: Appraisal, Synthesis, and Generation of Evidence. (7th ed). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Imes, C., Dougherty, C., Pyper, G., Sullivan, M. (2011). A Descriptive Study of the Partner’s Experiences of Living With Severe Heart Failure. Heart Lung (40)3, 208-216. Doi:10.1016/j.hrtlng.2010.12.007

Imes, C. C., Dougherty, C. M., Pyper, G., & Sullivan, M. D. (2011). Descriptive study of partners’ experiences of living with severe heart failure. Heart & Lung, 40(