Critical Appraisal Of A Primary Research Paper

Introduction:

This essay is about to present a critical appraisal of the selected primary research paper in terms of evaluating the validity, authenticity and quality of all the research elements of this research paper. A critical appraisal can be defined as an evidence-based approach that is associated with conducting a critical analysis of the trustworthiness, authenticity and validity of a research paper by using the other relevant pieces of evidence (Long et al. 2020). This essay will use CASP (critical appraisal skill programmer) tool to analyse the quality of each research element of the selected research paper. This essay will first discuss the importance of evidence-based practices in nursing in the context of the current health and social care environment. Then the essay will present a rationale for choosing the primary research paper for critical analysis. Then this essay will use the checklist of the CASP tool to analyse each research element of this research paper.

In the modern health and social care context, therapeutic communication is essential in providing high-quality care to patients. However, in modern nursing practice, nurses face several barriers in maintaining therapeutic communication with their patients (Lin et al. 2017). These berries are lack of skills and professional knowledge of nurses, family interference, lack of cooperation from the patient end, and shortage of nurses (Lewis et al. 2017). In this context, the selection of this primary research paper for a critical appraisal is highly relevant as it will provide new insight into the different issues that are faced by modern nursing professionals in maintaining therapeutic communication with their patients and the solution of overcoming all these issues as well.

Critical appraisal by using CASP tool:

Evidence-based practice (EBP) in health care is an innovative and modern approach that enables healthcare professionals to use the current piece of researches that are conducted in a different healthcare context to improve the overall quality of care. As stated by Lewis et al. (2017), EBP is highly useful in the modern nursing field which enables nursing professionals to combine the best practices from modern healthcare literature to improve their clinical experience, nursing skill and professional knowledge. In this essay, by using the CASP tool, an evidence-based discussion will be presented which will enable the student nurses as well as the registered nurses to get clear information regarding the types of barriers and issues that are experienced by the nurses in maintaining therapeutic communication with their patients and the strategies that can be used to overcomes all these berries. As mentioned by Thomson et al. (2018), EBP is crucial for nursing in improving their skill in maintaining effective therapeutic communication with patients. By using EBP, modern nursing professionals are able to get the opportunity to shape their skills and professional expertise from the modern literature on therapeutic communication. This essay will assist modern nursing professionals to get evidence-based information regarding how the different barriers associated with therapeutic communication will pose impacts on their professional accountability and professional expertise.

While it comes to present the rationale of choosing a particular research paper over the other for conducting any critical analysis, it is crucial to discuss the importance and relevance of that particular research paper to the current context of the research study (Jackson et al. 2014). Therapeutic communication is crucial in terms of delivering compassionate as well as high-quality care to patients thereby promoting their holistic wellbeing. The nurse-patients relationship and the interaction between them influence the efficacy and effectiveness of therapeutic communication. As stated by Ma et al. (2017), in the modern nursing field, nurses face several barriers in adopting the appropriate techniques in maintaining a transparent and clear interaction with patients which make them unable to meet patient’s health needs. The most common barriers that today’s modern nursing professionals face in maintaining effective therapeutic communication are the all-knowing attitude of nurses, lack of proper nursing skill and knowledge, poor understanding in the application of relevant therapeutic communication tools, unavailability of nursing staffs, family interference, poor cooperation from the patient end, lack of support from senior doctors and poor healthcare infrastructure (Olsson et al. 2016.). In this context, the selection of this primary research paper is highly relevant which will present an evidence-based discussion on how these above-mentioned barriers interfere with the skill ability of nursing professionals to maintain effective therapeutic communication with their patients (Alshammar et al. 2019). Moreover, this primary research paper is also relevant in the context of providing evidence-based information to modern nursing professionals regarding the techniques they can apply into their practices to overcomes all these risks of the aforementioned barriers thereby maintaining a trustworthy and empathetic communication with patients to understand all their health needs.

The CASP tool is widely used in academic researches, which enables researchers to conduct a critical appraisal of any selected research paper by comparing the research elements of that research paper with the other research articles (Long et al. 2020). Through using this CASP tool, this critical analysis study will evaluate the authenticity of the author, the authenticity of the search study, the validity of the data collection and data analysis.

Based on the first checklist of the CASP tools, the first thing that any researcher will consider while critically appraise any research paper is whether the research paper mentioned its clear aim. As mentioned by Buccheri and Sharifi (2017), the quality of a research study must be related to how efficiently and the study mentions its research aim. On a positive note, the selected primary research paper has presented a clear statement in which it presented its aim of conducting the research study. In this research study, Amoah et al. (2019) have mentioned that the purpose of this research study is to explore the barriers that nursing professional experiences in maintaining therapeutic communication with patients.

The second important criterion of the CASP checklist the researchers need to consider while critically appraising any research paper is the validity of using a qualitative research study (Adeyemi, 2018). According to Ferreira and Patino (2018), qualitative research enables researchers to collect non-numerical data from the selected participants which enable the researcher to meet their research aims. Qualitative study is of different types such as in-depth interview, case study, observation, focus groups, ethnography, grounded theory and actional research (Adeyemi, 2018). In this research paper, Amoah et al. (2019) have conducted an in-depth interview to collect the relevant database from the participants regarding therapeutic communication. The selection of qualitative methodology has become highly appropriate for researchers in this research paper to achieve the research goals, this is because, through using in-depth interviews, researchers are able to get the comprehensive and non-numeric database on therapeutic communication which enables researchers to understand the perspectives, viewpoints, feelings, psychology and experiences of the participants (nurses and patients) (Buccheri and Sharifi, 2017).

Here this research paper has clearly mentioned that this qualitative methodology is proved to be highly useful to conduct a thematic analysis, in which researchers are able to evaluate the different types of barriers in therapeutic communicating and their impacts on patients.

As per the third criteria of CASP tools for a qualitative research paper, a good research paper must use an appropriate research design that can address the purpose or aim of the research study. According to Ferreira and Patino (2018), researchers need to present proper justification regarding the selection of a particular research design. This research paper justifies that, the exploratory research design is selected as it would enable the researchers to conduct a qualificative thematic analysis of the feedback reduced from the nurses and patients thereby enabling them to make an in-depth analysis of the feedback. As mentioned by Thomson et al. (2018), while criticising any research design, it is important to analyse whether the research article has a clear discussion on the venue or place in which the research study had been conducted. The research article by Amoah et al. (2019) has clearly mentioned that, researchers had designed and conducted the exploratory research study in the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), the second largest hospital in Ghana. This research study also mentioned that, the research study had employed the exploratory research design which used a qualitative approach in terms of investigating patient’s and nurses’ views and experiences regarding the barriers to the effective therapeutic communication. In this context it can be stated that this research article successfully justifies the selection of qualitative research design which ensures the validity, authenticity and credibility of this research paper.

The next research element that research need to consider as per the CASP checklist to analyse any research paper is the appropriateness of the recruitment strategy. As mentioned by Long et al. (2020), a good research paper must have the clear discussion on how many participants are recruited for the research study and how they are selected. In this research paper, Amoah et al. (2019) had clearly mentioned that, a total of 13 participants were purposively selected for this qualitative research study. These 13 participants consist of 7 patients and 6 nurses from Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). As argued by Lewis et al. (2017), while appraising the validity of the recruitment and selection process of any research study, it is important to analyse whether the research study has a clear discussion on the exclusion and inclusion criteria along with the ways in which the participants are selected for the study. In this selected research study, Amoah et al. (2019) mentioned that, for selecting 13 participants appropriate inclusion and exclusion criteria had been used. For selection of patients of KATH, the inclusion criteria were that, participants must had been admitted for at least 3-4 days in hospitals. In case of nurses, they must be fulltime workers and must had a minimum of four months working period in this hospital. On the other hand, exclusion criteria were that patients who did not have any hospital admission of minimum 3 days will not be selected for this study and the nurses who are not full times or have a working experience of less than 4 months are not excluded from the selection list.

Under CASP tool, while critically analysing any research paper it is also important to check whether the research paper discusses that who has selected the participants. Iin the selected research paper, Amoah et al. (2019) mentioned that, the participants are selected directly by the researchers from KATH. Here researchers directly communicate with each participant in KATH to conduct an unstructured interview. As stated by Ma et al. (2017), unstructured interview is the process in which open ended questions are used for interviewees to make an in-depth investigation on the views, opinion and perspectives of participants. In the research paper by Amoah et al. (2019), researchers had discussed the time and date of the interview with each participant and taken participant’s consent regarding conducting the interview. One to one interview had been conducted by Amoah et al. (2019). This research paper also stated that the interview was auto-taped to record the verbatim of each interviewee. On this note, it can be stated that, this research paper by Amoah et al. (2019) is able to maintain its validity and authenticity.

Data collection is another important aspect of the CASP tool checklist for quality research. As opined by Chen et al. (2017), a good qualitative research paper must give the proper justification of the selection of those particular types of the data collection method. The primary research paper by Amoah et al. (2019) has given the proper justification of using the in-depth interview for data collection. On the contrary, Ferreira and Patino (2018) argued, while critically analysing the data collection process of any research study, researchers must consider that whether the research paper mention how the data are collected from participants and mention the relevance of the selected data collection method. In this research paper, Amoah et al. (2019) mentioned that after recording the verbatim of participants, the verbatims are transcribed and analysed by using the thematic analysis. This thematic analysis had been done by listening to the verbatim carefully and transcribing the entire content. This research paper also mentioned it clearly that the transcript of each participant had been coded by going through line by line for finding the significant codes and statements according to the topic addressed. On this positive note, it can be stated that the research paper by Amoah et al. (2019) has successfully described each element of data analysis thereby presenting the validity, authenticity and trustworthy of data collection and data analysis process.

the entire in-depth interview of nurses and patients at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. This research paper also presents the clear justification of using the in-depth interview by stating that this data collection process enables the researcher to analyse the views, opinion perspectives and conventional thoughts, of patients and nurses regarding their therapeutic relationship and the barriers that are associated with therapeutic communication. In this context, it can be stated that the data collection methods are highly valid and authentic in this research paper.

Based on the CASP tool for qualitative research, the researcher needs to consider whether the selected research paper has a clear discussion on the relationship between the participants and researchers (Buccheri and Sharifi, 2017). On a dissatisfactory note, the primary research paper by Amoah et al. (2019) fails to present any discussion regarding the relationship between researchers and participants which can pose questions on the validity of the data collection.

While it comes to analyse the data analysis section of any research paper, researchers must check that whether the research paper is able to present a clear and understandable analysis of data that are collected from participants (Ferreira and Patino (2018). In the primary research paper, Amoah et al. (2019) have presented that thematic analysis, in which each theme is discussed comprehensively by using evidence-based information. As mentioned by Adeyemi (2018), a good research paper must present data that are different to make a conclusion and answer the research question. On a positive note, this primary research paper is able to present a comprehensive discussion in the thematic analysis which is sufficient to infer any suitable conclusion and meet the research aims and objectives.

Another important criterion of CASP tool check list is analysis the ethical; aspect of a research study. In this context, although this research paper by Amoah et al. (2019) mentioned that it had taken the ethical approval from the concerned ethical committee, it did not discuss that whether researchers comply with all the ethical regulation while conducting the research. Here this study also not discussed whether patients are allowed to leave the interview whenever they feel seek or exhausted. As mentioned by Olsson et al. (2016), it is important for any research study to uphold autonomy and rights of the participants in joining or leaving the interview when they want to do so. On this note, this research paper fails to clarify whether researchers respect this autonomy of patients and nurses throughout the data collection process. This can pose question on the validity of the research study.

While it comes to analyse the data findings of any research paper, the researcher needs to check that whether the research study had clear and evidence-based findings (Ferreira and Patino, 2018). By analysing the primary research study, it is seen that the research paper has successfully presented the clear findings on which it draws the inference that is retrieved from analysing the database of participants.

While it comes to discuss the limitations of this research paper by Amoah et al. (2019), the main aspect that can be discuses is the ethical issues that is not clearly mentioned in this research paper. This research paper oy mentioned that it got ethical approval from concerned ethical committee rather than making clear discussion on how all the ethical aspects are respected in this research, second, this research study does not mention the relationship between participants and researchers it is important to analyse the success and validity of data collection process.

Conclusion:

From the above-mentioned discussion, it can be concluded that critical appraisal is the process of using a relevant critical analysis tool to evaluate the validity of all the research elements of the selected research papers. Although the selected primary research papers have maintained the validity of many of their research element many drawbacks need to be overcome for improving the quality of this research study. From the critical analysis, it can be stated that the research paper by Amoah et al. (2019) somehow grabs an upper-average standard of quality that can present good evidence-based information on theopoetic communication and its barriers.

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