Research Process to Problems in Health Care

Research Process to Problems in Health Care
Dalia M. Davidson

Research Process to Problems in Health Care
The purpose of the topic of discussion is to understand and develop methodology of the research process while pertaining to health care. The process included researching and retrieving a peer-reviewed article and applying the research methodology to the article selected. The article selected for research pertains to teen pregnancy. The authors Thomas and Dimitrov wrote the “Effects of a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program on Teens’ Attitudes Toward Sexuality: A Latent Trait Modeling Approach” article will be used to determine the methods of defining the problem, the purpose of the study, research questions, hypothesis, study variables, conceptual model, the review of related literature and the study design of the selected article.
Definition of Problem
The problem addressed within the article is teenage pregnancy. Recent statistics has shown a decline in birth rates of teenagers of all ages. The decline is due to the effects of program interventions in a school-based teen pregnancy program which changes teen’s attitudes towards sexuality. The decline has been pronounced for all racial and ethnic groups with Black teenagers with the most dramatic decline. Also, the decline in teen birth rates justifies the continued local and national efforts to reduce risky sexual behaviors of teenagers. The current rate in the United States remains higher than that for any other industrialized country. The authors concluded that the reason for the higher rates of teenage pregnancy in the U.S. is due to the infrequent use of contraceptive methods. The importance to educate those on ways to prevent teenage pregnancy has become vital to the decline (Thomas & Dimitrov, 2007).
Purpose of Study
The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of program interventions in a school-based teen pregnancy program on hypothesized constructs underlying teens’ attitudes toward sexuality. An important task related to this purpose was the validation of the constructs and their stability from pre-to post-intervention measures.
Research question
There is no research question posed within the article. Will adolescent sexual risk-taking behavior and its consequences decline by promoting prevention programs to promote sexual abstinence? The abstinence program is designed to provide sexual health information that is planned and sequential while addressing physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of sexual health (Thomas & Dimitrov, 2007).
Hypothesis
The hypothesized constructs underlying teens’ attitudes toward sexuality once a school-based intervention program is created. This investigation provides credible evidence that both 1st and 2nd constructs related measures of teens’ attitudes towards risky sexual behavior are stable and sensitive to detect program effects.
Study variables and design
People are the study variables. Students involved were seventh graders from four different middle schools located in Fauquier County, Virginia. It is housed in three middle schools and comparison group is a nearby middle school. A total of 1,136 students participated in the pre-test survey and 1,022 of the same students were administered the post-survey. The experimental group consisted of 729 students 51.6% boys and 48.4% girls. The control group consisted of 293 students of 50.2% were boys and 49.8% were girls. The experimental and control groups were comparable in the reports of using tobacco and alcohol in the past year and or had dated someone one month or more. The study uses an evaluation design. The program participates in a statewide evaluation project involving the entire state-sponsored abstinence education program. This study used a pre-intervention and post-intervention nonequivalent comparison group design (Thomas & Dimitrov, 2007).
Conceptual Model or Theoretical Framework
The seventh graders in the three middle schools received 15 days of instruction in a structured curriculum followed by 5 days of a video-based curriculum. The focus was interpersonal relationships. Each instructional period lasted 45 min to an hour. The follow-up consisted of participants did booster program intervention. Many teachers were trained in the character-based conceptual framework. The curriculum is made up different theoretical perspectives such as social cognitive theory, emotional intelligence, social competence, and the integration of cognitive, emotional, social, and moral intelligence (Thomas & Dimitrov, 2007).
Review of related literature
In the teenage pregnancy study, the review literature enables the programmer to discover horrifying statistics related to sexual risk-taking behaviors in terms of pregnancy rate and the number and severity of STDs. In addition, the programmer finds several articles from the Center of Disease Control, The Panel on Adolescent Pregnancy, and Childbearing of the National Academy of Sciences that describe the different outreach programs that have been successful and describe the benefits of education about abstinence and contraceptives. The information discovered during this step helps the programmer fully understand the magnitude of the problem, recognize the future consequences of teen pregnancy, and identify a strategy to combat teen pregnancy (i.e. prevention programs).

Work Cited
Thomas, C. L. & Dimitrov, D. M. (2007). Effects of a teen a pregnancy prevention program on teens’ attitudes toward sexuality: A latent trait modeling approach. Developmental Psychology, 43(1), 173-185.