Research Paper
Research paper
The article “One breath at a time: living with cystic fibrosis” presents a qualitative investigation to describe the living experiences of families caring for a patient of cystic fibrosis (CF). Several quantitative, ethnographic and grounded theory studies have been done involving the patients of CF and their families. These studies aimed at research on stressors and interventions for CF and are valuable in understanding coping in families lived with (or living with) CF for extended periods of time. However, these studies do not explain the experience of living with a family member with CF.
The objective of this research was to generate essential information needed by individuals with family members having CF. It was achieved by developing rich descriptions of life experiences of families caring for a child with CF. These families were sought as an expert source of how to live with and care for a child with CF. Hence, study design used was descriptive and grounded in phenomenological research methodology. This design presents the perspective of the families of a child with CF at the time of diagnosis. This qualitative research approach is best suited to describing the phenomena of living with and adapting to CF (Carpenter & Narsavage, 2004). Research Design and Selection
Data was collected from a purposive sample of nine families. Focus group technique was used to collect data from three families and the other six families contributed to the study via written narratives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for the focus group; these interviews were audiotaped and upon conclusion of the interview the participants were encouraged to contact the researchers for any other relevant information. Participants who responded in narrative format were asked to write in as much detail as possible. The data were generated and analyzed from a phenomenological perspective (as used by Colaizzi, 1978). There were a total of nine steps in the data generation. It began with the description of ‘phenomenon of interest’ followed by the collection of participants’ description (through focus interview or narratives).The audiotaped interviews and written narratives were then transcribed and ‘significant statements’ were extracted out of those. Each significant statement was described in its depth and the information obtained was clustered into three different themes. After writing up an exhaustive description, it was returned to the participants for validation. Finally, new ideas revealed from validation were incorporated into the description.
Authenticity and trustworthiness of data was confirmed by the reviewing/verification of the data by the participants. Audit trail was used to confirm the data by a second researcher. The followed research design ensured the credibility, dependability and confirmability of the collected data (Carpenter & Narsavage, 2004).Data Collection and Analysis
Data was collected from a purposive sample of nine families. The participants were selected on the basis of their first hand experience with the patients of CF. Once the written narratives and semi-structured interviews were transcribed and validated by the participants, the data were analyzed. This analysis revealed three essential theme clusters viz. Falling apart, pulling together and moving beyond. Sub-themes were also identified and connected with each of the themes. Since this study was a qualitative one, no statistical analysis was performed (Carpenter & Narsavage, 2004).Utilization of findings
The first article “One breath at a time: living with cystic fibrosis” can serve as a useful guide for the parents and families of cystic fibrosis patients. This article describes the three themes shared by the families/parents of CF patients. This article can help the families to be vigilant in caring for the child with CF, keeping their daily routines and finding ways to do things in a better and efficient way. It points toward the required lifestyle adaptations to minimize the effects of stressors related to CF. Overall, this article tells the reader that people out there are struggling and successfully managing their lives with a CF child at home. Since this study represents the first hand (primary) information collected from the participants, its reliability and validity remain unquestioned.
The second article “Male and female nursing applicants' attitudes and expectations towards their future careers in nursing” is an investigative research using questionnaires for the data collection. The purpose of this study was to investigate the career intentions and attitudes of male and female participants who were not qualified nurses, but who were applying to train as nurses. The results indicate that there were no significant differences between males and females wrt their attitudes towards career. It was concluded that organizational barriers within the health service that are responsible for the slow career progress of female nurses. The data collected through questionnaires was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics and hence, is expected to be reliable and valid. This study may have its implications for recruitment to nurse education programs for men and women (Carpenter & Narsavage, 2004; Mullan & Harrison, 2008).
Issues relating to reliability and validity
Both the studies given here represent good examples of methodologically-sound research. The data collection tools used i.e. questionnaires and semi-structured interviews efficiently collected the required information. The title of the article on cystic fibrosis was focused and represented the contents of the study. The authors have tested the authenticity and trustworthiness of the collected data by the techniques described by Guba and Lincoln (1994). The evaluative criteria for the present qualitative research were borrowed from the literature (Beck, 1993; Sandelowski, 1986) and the data were tested for credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability. This article is relevant to the nursing practice because nurses in research and practice need to understand the patients’ and families experience and use it to assist other families in providing the needed care and attention to their child with CF. Overall, the qualitative research methodology used by the authors served as an efficient tool for the collection of intended information on cystic fibrosis.
In the second article “Male and female nursing applicants' attitudes and expectations towards their future careers in nursing” the title talks about the applicants’ attitudes and expectations only. However, the results say that gender differences are insignificant in determining the career progress of men and women nurses. Hence, the title could have been modified to include the ‘organizational barriers’ which are the significant factors in this study. The results of this study supported the previous studies which found that there were no differences in the career orientation between male and female nurses. This article is very much relevant to the nursing practice and may serve as a ‘wakeup call’ for the recruiters to nurse education programmes and may help change the organization cultures in favor of women nurses (Carpenter & Narsavage, 2004; Mullan & Harrison, 2008).
References
Beck, C.T. (1993). Qualitative research: The evaluation of its credibility, fittingness, and audit ability. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 15, 263-265.
Carpenter, D. R. & Narsavage, G. L. (2004). One breath at a time: Living with cystic fibrosis. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 19(1), 25-32.
Guba, E.G. & Lincoln, Y.S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105-117). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mullan, B. & Harrison, J. (2008). Male and female nursing applicants’ attitudes and expectations towards their future careers in nursing. Journal of Research in Nursing, 13(6), 527-539.
Sandelowski, M. (1986). The problem of rigor in qualitative research. Advances in Nursing Science, 8, 27-37.
