Nurses are responsible in providing holistic, quality care to their clients. In order to effectively provide such care Boswell and Cannon (2009, p. 2 & 7) states that nurses must base their provision of care on the most current, up-to-date health information available and sound nursing knowledge. This is where evidence-based practice (EBP) comes in. Polit and Beck (2010, p. 4) defined EBP as "the use of the best clinical evidence in making patient care desicions". This usually comes from research conducted by nurses and other healthcare professionals. Thus it is pertinent that research reports are critically analyzed.
A research critique aims to measure the value and significance of a study. These are determined by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the report (Brockopp & Tolsma, 2003, p. 400). Recommendations for areas of improvements are also included in a research critique. This paper critically appraises a qualitative research article titled "Women's perception of being pregnant and having pregestational diabetes" (Lavender, T., Platt, M. J., Tsekiri, E., Casson, I., Byrom, S., Baker, L., et al., 2010, p. 589-595).
Title and Abstract
The title of a research report is the first thing that readers look at to have a gross idea about what the study is about (Brockopp & Tolsma, 2003, p. 446). It should contain 15 words or less and in qualitative studies, the title would typically include the central phenomenon and group under investigation (Polit & Beck, 2010, p. 89). In their research report, the researchers used 9 words for the title to accurately describe their study.
From the title, we can tell that the central phenomenon is ‘pregestational diabetes' and the population being studied is women. This is consistent throughout the study as the participants include women who have either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, although the title did not specify the pregnancy status of the participants. This may mislead readers into thinking
References: Brockopp, D. Y., & Tolsma, M. T. (2003). Fundamentals of nursing research (3rd ed.). New York: Jones & Bartlett. Boswell, C., & Cannon, S. (2009). Introduction to nursing research; incorporating evidence- based practice (2nd Holloway, I., & Wheeler, S. (2002). Qualitative research in nursing (2nd ed.). Malden, MA : Blackwell Science. Holloway, I., & Wheeler, S. (2010). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare (3rd ed.). Houser, J. (2008). Nursing research: reading, using, and creating evidence. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Laverty, S. M. (2003). Hermeneutic Phenomenology and Phenomenology: A comparison of historical and methodological considerations Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2010). Essentials of nursing research: appraising evidence for nursing practice (7th ed.)