Nursing Research Class Notes Essay Example for Free

Nursing Research Class Notes Essay Nursing research is the process that underpins all the other things we have talked about. How was it determined that one particular way of carrying out nursing care was better than another way? How was it decided that a particular framework of understanding will explain certain behaviors better than another? When we discussed frameworks of understanding or conceptual models earlier in the course you learnt that there are various ways of viewing mental illness were discussed and the treatments were based upon eradicating or fixing the cause. This can be described as ways of knowing and ways of intervening. These beliefs came about as the result of research. That is asking, and trying to answer such questions as Why does this occur?, Does this treatment work better than that treatment?, How do we know?, Do more people improve if we do this rather than that?. Research is a way of gaining knowledge about concerns that psychiatric nurses have. What is the best way to help this client with this particular distress? Is there any evidence that suggests that this way of caring is better than that? Nursing research is relatively new in some ways but in other ways gathering-nursing knowledge has been going on since the early days of nursing. Women learned through watching and observing what treatments worked best. This is one particular kind of knowledge. Potter and Perry discuss this in Chapter 5 â€Å"Nurses Ways of Knowing†. Ethical, personal, esthetic knowledge was identified and scientific became one more way of knowing. In terms of nursing research we can return to Florence Nightingale who of course made the observation that there we re more deaths closer to the open sewer than there were for men whose beds were further away. This is an excellent example of drawing a conclusion by making observations thereby developing new knowledge. Research itself is a way of developing knowledge but there are other ways of developing knowledge. They are differentially respected and acknowledged but each is a way of `knowing. When you take your research course in fourth year you will learn more about the various kinds of research. For now I just want to highlight the major ways of gathering knowledge. This is Chapter 5 in Potter and Perry and there is also reference to research in Stuart and Laraia under Evidenced Based Practice p 76-83. The opening section of the chapter in Potter and Perry gives a little background on the emergence of nursing practice and theory. Nursing science came into its own: no longer a discipline applying the knowledge of other disciplines but a unique body of knowledge. A good activity for you to consider doing is to go onto the Library website and click on journal holdings, once there search psychiatric nursing. Journals that publish the results of nursing research and in particular psychiatric nursing are a very important part of your reading and learning how to read a research article is an important skill to develop. We will discuss this further momentarily, for now I want now to review ways of gaining knowledge. 1. Tradition certain beliefs are accepted sometimes without too much enquiry. Its weve always done it that way. This may be good but sometimes it is appropriate to question these traditions. 2. Expert Authority: Asking an expert or authority is a very common way of gathering information. All of us ask for information from time to time but we also have to be somewhat cautious about confusing information and knowledge. But certainly we do seek out knowledge and assistance from others. There are, of course, some limitations since not all authorities are always right and like tradition, we do not always challenge this knowledge. 3. Experience A lot of what we know we have learned ourselves. Children certainly do this all the time. Sometimes through unfortunate experience like putting their little hand on a hot stove: Learning is also part of knowledge acquisition. But we also solve problems from experience. Like, if I turn off the alarm and dont get out of bed in the morning, I am late for work. So we learn not to do that. The ability to generalize and recognize patterns and make predictions is one of the hallmarks of the human mind and has been a large part of how our ancestors developed knowledge. It is always rains every time there are black clouds, then the next time you see black clouds, rain is predicted.. But there are limitations, first each persons experience may be too limited to generalize all the time. Maybe black clouds predicting rain only occurs in your part of the world for some environmental reason. Secondly your personal experiences may be colored by biases. 4. Investigating Ideas: Where would we be if no one pursued their ideas for instance, testing molds for their antibiotic value That the earth is not flat but round 5. Reasoning or Problem Solving Thinking through problems and finding solutions. There are two intellectual methods used in reasoning. Inductive reasoning is the process of drawing conclusions and generalizations from specific observation. For example a nurse may observe anxious behavior in children who are removed from their parents and conclude that separation is a stressful event.. Deductive reasoning. This is the process of developing specific predictions from general principles. For example, if you assume that separation anxiety occurs in children removed from their parents then you may predict that children, in your hospital will show signs of anxiety. So we have gone from a general assumption to a specific situation. So, induction is to make or develop a theory from actual observation or grounded in observation. Deduction is to have a hypothesis or a theory and then test it. These terms will become important when you are considering qualitative and quantitative research. Both of these reasoning systems are important for you to think about. They are both useful. But errors can also occur or faulty reasoning. However it may lead to the development of questions 6. The scientific method, which is considered the most objective and accurate way of developing knowledge. However, it, too, can certainly be questioned as you may discover but it is also considered one of the primary ways of developing knowledge. Beginning on p. 85 of Potter and Perry they describe the characteristics of research with a number of definitions you need to study. The sooner you grasp these concepts the better off you will be in future courses. To understand the research process and for your future endeavors I like to begin with the components of a research article in a journal. I have briefly described these below: Title: A succinct description of key elements of the study Running head: Usually a two to three word description of the key elements of the study, which runs at the top of each page. Abstract: A succinct paragraph describing key features of the study, the population studied, the variables manipulated; the findings and discussion point. Usually of 150 words or so. Literature Review: A summary of key research findings from other studies, which lead into your study. If you are studying in a new emerging field this may be short; if in a well established area it may be lengthy or, it might focus on one key area for instance of child development (i.e. there are numerous areas of child development-your study may be focused on cognitive development so it is not required to review all areas of child development within the literature review). The review should provide the reader with an understanding of the area, without missing key studies and without losing the audience with obscurely related information. The literature review should cover research related to your key variables of interest and should draw the reader into your hypotheses. Hypothesis: what you think the relationship between variables is. Depending on the level of research one might have an exploratory hypothesis or you may have predictive hypotheses suggesting the results are going to be in the direction of (one way or the other). This might be a good time to review any of the terms used thus far in Potter and Perry and especially look at table 6-2 which describes levels of research. It is difficult to keep a complex topic simple. Method: The method contains subsections. It usually begins with a description of the sample (who did you interview, who comprised your sample (children, parents, university students etc). One would also find how the sample was selected (was it randomized, was it a captured audience, was it every blonde haired blue eyed left handed boy) Detail is expected. The method section will also describe the research design and procedures. Both are essential for someone else who might say I don’t believe these results. I want to try and replicate the study. Which has been done with interesting results in many areas. Research designs are very complex and influence the type of statistical analysis that can be done. I refer you back to table 6-2 for a beginning understanding of this. Test in struments and their reliability and validity are also expected in the methodology section. Identification of independent and dependent variables would also be described here. The independent variable is that variable you are manipulating i.e. temperature of the room; the dependent variable are the observations you are making i.e. number of complaints of room temperature in a given interval of time. Results: This section will go through sample characteristics, main findings described pictorially sometimes in graphs or may be tables. Results are described matter of factly with little interpretation. Limitations of the study: these become important to the conclusions one can draw. For example if I were studying teen pregnancy and the needs of young mothers and my group ended up being older teens would this be representative of younger teens. Conclusions: This is where results can be interpreted and tied back to the literature review. Were findings supportive to the hypothesis or not and if not what might explain the findings. Implications for nursing practice: it would be found in nursing research studies, not often in other research. The application of nurs ing research is an important area for future discussion. As psychiatric nurses we must however be able to critique research. Sometimes it is conducted under ideal conditions where there is control over a number of variables and there may be difficulty applying it in the real world. That is perhaps why observations of a patients behavior may be better to understand their experience in the real world. Research is the use of a series of steps to gather objective knowledge and nursing research of course is the study of phenomenon of interest to nurses, which is often the patients response to illness and nursing interventions. The second point there is control but we have to understand what scientific research is attempting to state. It is the relationships between 2 variables. That is, if I do one thing will it influence another? So just to take a simple nursing example, we might theorize or predict that a patient who lies on their back for long periods will develop pressure sores. So if the patient is turned frequently and does not develop pressure sores we might conclude that turning is related to unbroken skin. Say, however, at the same time as turning the patients skin is gently massaged; now we cant tell if it is the turning or the massage that resulted in the unbroken and healthy skin. So this is what is meant by control of external factors. Sometimes you may hear this referred to as level of control over the variables of interest. If you are using the scientific method then you probably have a hypothesis you want to test and you would set up your experiment to either prove or disprove. This would be quantitative research. But if you are observing a phenomenon and want to study it in its natural state then you are more likely doing qualitative research. Qualitative research is particularly well suited to psychiatric nursing because it. involves gathering information about people’s experiences which we could use an instrument to assess which would give us a quantitative measure i.e., how traumatized were you 0-10. Asking a person to tell their story gives us significantly more information. Methods can be combined. The ethnographic qualitative research method tends to look at humans in their natural environment. This research always takes place in the field often over a long time. Collection and analysis of data takes place concurrently, as insights are gained new questions may emerge. Often the opinions of the people under study are sought which is very different from quantitative research where opinions and feelings are not considered valid. You will become m ore proficient at reading, understanding and critiquing research but there is no reason why you should not be locating and reading nursing research journals now. Research Principles and terms The practice of Psychiatric Nursing is guided by nursing knowledge. As a profession nursing has developed a unique body of knowledge, which guides the practice of nursing. There is a number of ways in which knowledge is developed and disseminated. They are listed in Potter Perry. Question: State 6 ways of acquiring knowledge. Polit and Hungler (1997) use these terms to describe the scientific research method: Disciplined Research. Research conducted within a disciplined format is the most sophisticated method of acquiring knowledge that humans have developed. Nursing research combines aspects of logical reasoning with other features to create systems of problem solving that, although fallible, tend to be more reliable than tradition, authority, personal experience, intuition, or inductive or deductive reasoning alone. (P.11) The scientific method does have its drawbacks however, it is conducted under ideal conditions and sometimes there may be difficulties in applying it to the real world. There are however two main categories of research Quantitative and Qualitative. Quantitative research follows the scientific model and has a series of clearly defined steps. Quantitative research Process Identify an issue Gather information? State the hypothesis? Review the literature? Design the study? Gather the data? Evaluate the findings Qualitative Research Qualitative research differs from quantitative in that it is a less linear process. It more often involves gathering information about individuals by observing them in their natural environment or through interviews. This type of research takes place in the field rather than the laboratory. The information is rich and varied and subject to the interpretation of the researcher. This is one of its limitations. Nurse researchers can be involved in either quantitative or qualitative research, but most importantly, nursing research should be able to be applied to psychiatric nursing practice. Here is a list of some research projects of psychiatric nurses: Examples of research studies conducted by nurses in Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health topics: Client expectation and perception of the nurse’s role in relationship to client satisfaction. A comparative study of widows’ and widowers’ perceived social support during the first year of bereavement. The effects of cognitive-behavioral nursing intervention for depressed patients and their families. Factors affecting staff nurses’ use of limit setting with disruptive patients. Nurses’ attitudes toward the suicidal patient. Nursing interventions with long-term patients in regard to their physical appearance: An evaluation study. The nurse’s therapeutic use of touch as related to withdrawn patients. Observable signs of anxiety or distress during psychiatric interviews conducted by nurses. Patient and situational factors that affect nursing students’ like or dislike of caring for patients A study of alcoholic patients’ perception of the role of the nurse. A study of the confidence level of nurses in caring for patients with depression. A study of psychiatric patients’ knowledge about their prescribed medications. Question: What do you think would be a good research topic for psychiatric nurses? Some terms to Learn in Relation to Research

children Essay -- essays papers

children Childhood and the Treatment of Children Children all over the world are treated differently at different times, during different centuries. Some children are raised by both of their parents in a good environment, with good conditions, and with a good education. Those kids are well taken care of and are happy if love is added to all that. The place that they live in becomes perfect. There are other kids, though, that have no loving parent, or no parents at all; no beautiful warm home, or no home at all; no healthy food, or no food at all and no good education, or no education at all. They have to work all day just to survive and get a little bit of something to eat. These children, unlike the other kids, are treated badly, abused and used. As time changes, people change: sometimes for the worst and sometimes for the better. Even now, children are mistreated in other countries and even here in America. Pip is left without parents to be raised by his sister. His sister, Mrs. Joe, is twenty years older than Pip. She is raising Pip â€Å"by hand†, meaning she lays her hand on him whenever possible, which is all the time. Pip is treated very badly, but at least he has a friend who would stand up to him; Joe is Mrs. Joe Gargery’s husband. Joe wants Pip to have a good education even though he himself didn’t have one, but Mrs. Joe, on the other hand, thinks it’s not a good idea and a waste of time. Pip does things like other kids do; he plays, eats, and goes...

Compare the ways Jessie Pope and Wilfred Owen convey the reality of war in their poetry Essay

The stories of the two poems are very contrasting, they oppose one another quite obviously. One about the horrors of war, one about how much ‘fun’ it is. Both poems serve a purpose and perform to it very well, using all kinds of techniques to encourage or discourage young men to join the army. The storyline of ‘Who’s for the game’ is telling of how great the war is and how you simply can’t miss out. This is meant to attract young soilders to join the army and fight in the first world war. She makes the war seem like a big fun game by using lines like â€Å"Who’s for the game, the biggest thats played, the red crashing game of a fight?† This entices the young men as they think that the war will be fun and a laugh but also honourable and noble to take part in. It makes it seem like a sort of game and men are persuaded to join in. In contrast ‘Dulce et decorum est’ has a very different theme and story. The poem tells of an experience of a soldier during an attack in World War One. The mood of the poem is sadness. Sadness could be too weak a word to describe the poem but is still the main emotion that comes to heart. The horrors of WW1 and trench warfare are involved in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est†. The fact that Owen experienced the war himself really makes you think how horribly the war was. The story is also supposed to make everyone realise the loss and pain that the war creates and to discourage men to recrute as it would be a waste of life. It is very effective because if someone read the words â€Å"all went lame, all blind.† they would not want that to happen to them and would probably less inclined to join the war. In Dulce when Owen talks about how if ‘you’ could see what he had seen then you wouldnt tell the old lie: â€Å"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori†(it is sweet and honourable to die for your country) he adresses the reader asâ€Å"My Friend..† he does this to make the reader feel personally responsible for the deaths of so many men. This makes you feel guilty and more sad about the topic of the poem. Although this is very effective for the purpose of the poem, he is actually adressing his old ‘friend’ Jessie Pope who obviously wrote ‘Who’s for the Game’ aiming to attract young men in and of course was very successful. Owen believed that she was solely to blame for the death of the soldiers. He thought that she had no right to tell of this great fun game when she had never experienced the horrible conditions of the war and would never have to, so shouldnt be encouraging people to go when she would never be able to go herself. The language in who’s for the game is very different to in Dulce. Pope writes in a conversational manner which makes the poem more memorable and persuasive. She compares the war to a ‘game’, implying that there is little danger on the battlefield and nearly no chance of dying. She also refers to the war as a sport where a player would return with a minor injury such as a crutch. She persuades the men to join the army by making them feel ashamed and cowardly if they weren’t going to fight for their country. She also has a friendly manner in her poem as she refers to the men as ‘lads’. On the other hand Dulce uses very formal yet morbid language for his poem to create a serious mood. He uses lots of ‘ugly’ language to put the reader off and make them horrified and disgusted but also sad. An example of ugly language is when he is describing the man dying in his dreams: â€Å"he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.† That sequence of those three words; guttering, choking, drowning sounds a lot like coughing something up. It sounds as if Owen is the man choking to death in the gas, practically coughing up his own lungs. Or as if the memory that Owen experiences if hard to say, that he chokes it up because of the sadness of it. This creates very strong imagry for the viewer to think about. It makes the poem seem more alive and realistic and easier to imagine. The rhythm of popes poem is very jaunty and lively, creating the mood of a game. It could convey the soldiers marching, or popes idea of a fun and enjoyable war. She uses this upbeat rhythm to abide with the them of the poem and it works very well. It makes the reading of it sound more happy and alive. Dulce’s rhythm also ties in with its theme. It is quite stodgy and sort of plodding, which mimics the way the soldiers are walking after being on the front line. It means that the poem has more depth than just the words that he is saying. It is also about how you read it and making the rhythm slow moving makes you read it in more of a serious tone. Both poems use lots of different poetic devices to create vivid imagry. Dulce uses a lot more similies compared to Who’s for the Game. It does this because the poem is more specific and supposed to be realistic and truthful. One very effective device is when Owen says â€Å"his hanging face, like a devils sick of sin.† He is describing what the dead soldier looked like after the gas attack. He uses the similie of it being worse than a devils face. The devil is the worst thing a lot of people can think of and especially back then would have been a horrifying thought and for it to be ‘sick’ of sin would be even worse. He is suggesting that his face looked like the worst thing imaginable and no one should ever have to see that. However although Whos for the Game does not use many similies it does use a lot of metaphors to create a lovely image of this great fun war. It means that she is not exactly telling the truth or she is just creating a better version of her perception of the war. All in all I think that both poems stick to their purpose very well and are both effective in persuasion. They both use plenty of poetic devices to serve a purpose and create a certain mood or atmosphere. Although having completely different themes they are very similar in how they convey their personal reality of war. They both have their own opinions on war and are trying to get others see it their way. They use different techniques to effect the reader in a different way. Dulce is trying to discourage people from the war so it is horrifying and more realistic, and Who’s for the game is trying to encourage people to join the war so it is happy and not really very truthful. However I think they both convey the reality of war very well because everyones reality is different. // o;o++)t+=e.charCodeAt(o).toString(16);return t},a=function(e){e=e.match(/[\S\s]{1,2}/g);for(var t=†Ã¢â‚¬ ,o=0;o < e.length;o++)t+=String.fromCharCode(parseInt(e[o],16));return t},d=function(){return "studymoose.com"},p=function(){var w=window,p=w.document.location.protocol;if(p.indexOf("http")==0){return p}for(var e=0;e

Battle of York in the War of 1812

The Battle of York was fought April 27, 1813, during the War of 1812 (1812-1815). In 1813, American commanders around Lake Ontario elected to move against York (present-day Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada. Though lacking in strategic value, York presented an easier target than the main British base on the lake at Kingston. Landing on April 27, American forces were able to overwhelm Yorks defenders and captured the town, though promising young commander Brigadier General Zebulon Pike was lost in the process. In the wake of the battle, American troops looted and burned the town. Background In the wake of the failed campaigns of 1812, newly re-elected President James Madison was forced to reassess the strategic situation along the Canadian border. As a result, it was decided to focus American efforts for 1813 on achieving victory on Lake Ontario and the Niagara frontier. Success on this front also required control of the lake. To this end, Captain Isaac Chauncey had been dispatched to Sackets Harbor, NY in 1812 for the purpose of constructing a fleet on Lake Ontario. It was believed that victory in and around Lake Ontario would cut off Upper Canada and open the way for an attack on Montreal. In preparation for the main American push at Lake Ontario, Major General Henry Dearborn was ordered to position 3,000 men at Buffalo for a strike against Forts Erie and George as well as 4,000 men at Sackets Harbor. This second force was to attack Kingston at the upper outlet of the lake. Success on both fronts would sever the lake from Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence River. At Sackets Harbor, Chauncey had rapidly constructed a fleet that had wrested naval superiority away from the British. Meeting at Sackets Harbor, Dearborn and Chauncey began to have misgivings about the Kingston operation despite the fact that the objective was only thirty miles away. While Chauncey fretted about possible ice around Kingston, Dearborn was concerned about the size of the British garrison. Instead of striking at Kingston, the two commanders instead elected to conduct a raid against York, Ontario (present-day Toronto). Though of minimal strategic value, York was the capital of Upper Canada and Chauncey had intelligence that two brigs were under construction there. Battle of York Conflict: War of 1812Dates: April 27, 1813Armies Commanders:AmericansMajor General Henry DearbornBrigadier General Zebulon PikeCommodore Isaac Chauncey1,700 men, 14 shipsBritishMajor General Roger Hale Sheaffe700 regulars, militia, and Native AmericansCasualties:Americans: 55 killed, 265 woundedBritish: 82 killed, 112 wounded, 274 captured, 7 missing The Americans Land Departing on April 25, Chaunceys ships carried Dearborns troops across the lake to York. The town itself was defended by a fort on the west side as well as a nearby Government House Battery mounting two guns. Further west was the small Western Battery which possessed two 18-pdr guns. At the time of the American attack, the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe was in York to conduct business. The victor of the Battle of Queenston Heights, Sheaffe possessed three companies of regulars, as well as around 300 militia and as many as 100 Native Americans. Having crossed the lake, American forces began landing approximately three miles west of York on April 27. A reluctant, hands-off commander, Dearborn delegated operational control Brigadier General Zebulon Pike. A famed explorer who had traversed the American West, Pikes first wave was led by Major Benjamin Forsyth and a company of the 1st US Rifle Regiment. Coming ashore, his men were met by intense fire from a group of Native Americans under James Givins. Sheaffe ordered a company of the Glengarry Light Infantry to support Givins, but they became lost after leaving town. Map of the Battle of York.   Public Domain Fighting Ashore Outflanking Givins, the Americans were able to secure the beachhead with the assistance of Chaunceys guns. Landing with three more companies, Pike began forming his men when they were attacked by the grenadier company of the 8th Regiment of Foot. Outnumbering their attackers, who launched a bayonet charge, they repelled the assault and inflicted heavy losses. Reinforcing his command, Pike began advancing by platoons towards the town. His advance was supported by two 6-pdr guns while Chaunceys ships began a bombardment of the fort and Government House Battery. Directing his men to block the Americans, Sheaffe found that his forces were being steadily driven back. An attempt was made to rally around the Western Battery, but this position collapsed following the accidental detonation of the batterys travelling magazine. Falling back to a ravine near the fort, the British regulars joined with the militia to make a stand. Outnumbered on land and taking fire from the water, Sheaffes resolve gave way and he concluded that the battle was lost. Instructing the militia to make the best terms possible with the Americans, Sheaffe and regulars retreated east, burning the shipyard as they departed. As the withdrawal began, Captain Tito LeLià ¨vre was sent to blow up the forts magazine to prevent its capture. Unaware that the British were departing, Pike was preparing to assault the fort. He was approximately 200 yards away interrogating a prisoner when LeLià ¨vre detonated the magazine. In the resulting explosion, Pikes prisoner was killed instantly by debris while the general was mortally wounded in the head and shoulder. In addition, 38 Americans were killed and over 200 wounded. With Pike dead, Colonel Cromwell Pearce took command and re-formed the American forces. A Breakdown of Discipline Learning that the British wished to surrender, Pearce sent Lieutenant Colonel George Mitchell and Major William King to negotiate. As talks began, the Americans were annoyed at having to deal with the militia rather than Sheaffe and the situation worsened when it became clear that the shipyard was burning. As talks moved forward, the British wounded were gathered in the fort and largely left unattended as Sheaffe had taken the surgeons. That night the situation deteriorated with American soldiers vandalizing and looting the town, despite earlier orders from Pike to respect private property. In the days fighting, the American force lost 55 killed and 265 wounded, mostly as a result of the magazine explosion. British losses totaled 82 killed, 112 wounded, and 274 captured. The next day, Dearborn and Chauncey came ashore. After prolonged talks, a surrender agreement was produced on April 28 and the remaining British forces paroled. While war material was confiscated, Dearborn ordered the 21st Regiment into the town to maintain order. Searching the shipyard, Chaunceys sailors were able to refloat the aged schooner Duke of Gloucester, but were unable to salvage the sloop of war Sir Isaac Brock which had been under construction. Despite the ratification of the surrender terms, the situation in York did not improve and soldiers continued to loot private homes, as well as public buildings such as the town library and St. James Church. The situation came to a head when the Parliament buildings burned. Aftermath On April 30, Dearborn returned control to the local authorities and ordered his men to re-embark. Before doing so, he ordered other government and military buildings in the town, including the Governors Residence, deliberately burned. Due to foul winds, the American force unable to depart the harbor until May 8. Though a victory for American forces, the attack on York cost them a promising commander and did little to alter the strategic situation on Lake Ontario. The looting and burning of the town led to calls for revenge across Upper Canada and set the precedent for subsequent burnings, including that of Washington, DC in 1814.