NURS 8310 Assignment 2: Defining the Problem and Research Methods
Sections 1 and 2 of Major Assessment 7: Using an Epidemiological Approach to Critically Analyze a Population Health Problem
In Week 3, you identified a population health problem of interest to you for Assignment 1. With your Instructor’s approval, you will use this problem for the Major Assessment 7 paper, which is due by Day 3 in Week 11. This week, you will begin Assignment 2 (Sections 1 and 2 of the Major Assessment 7 paper).
Through having already identified a population health problem of interest (Assignment 1) and by exploring different types of research designs in Discussion 2 of this week, you will continue to develop and refine your initial thoughts as you explore these concepts in more depth. As you work on Sections 1 and 2 of the Major Assessment 7 paper, you will also consider assessment strategies you could utilize based on your research design and methods for collecting raw data.
Review the Major Assessment Overview. Then, begin developing Section 1 and Section 2, which are due by Day 7 of Week 6:
Section 1: The Problem
A brief outline of the environment you selected (i.e., home, workplace, school)
A summary of your selected population health problem in terms of person, place, and time, and the magnitude of the problem based on data from appropriate data resources (Reference the data resources you used.)
Research question/hypothesis
Section 2: Research Methods
The epidemiologic study design you would use to assess and address your population health problem
Assessment strategies (i.e., if you were conducting a case-control study, how would you select your cases and controls? Regarding the methods and tools you would use to make these selections, how is it convenient for you as the researcher or as the investigator to use this tool?)
Summary of the data collection activities (i.e., how you would collect data—online survey, paper/pen, mailing, etc.)
You do not need to submit anything this week. Assignment 2 is due by Day 7 of Week 6.
Wk 4 Discussion 2
Briefly summarize the population health problem you selected for Major Assessment 7 and state the study question you want to answer.
Alcohol abuse during pregnancy is the selected population health problem for this discussion. The pattern of alcohol intake in women has been on the rise in the past two decades. Recent research also suggests that alcohol-induced liver inflammation, cardiovascular illness, memory lapses, hangovers, and some malignancies are more common in women than in men. According to a report based on NSDUH data, past-month alcohol use did not decrease for non-pregnant women aged 18 to 44 (from 57 percent to 58 percent) between 2002 and 2017 but did decrease for pregnant women in this age range from 13 percent to 10 percent (White, 2020). Other substance use, fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for AUD, depression, and being unmarried are all risk factors for alcohol consumption or binge drinking during pregnancy. Jones and Smith published a report in 1973 that described a syndrome in children exposed to alcohol in the womb that included facial dysmorphology, growth retardation, and central nervous system dysfunction. Although our knowledge of the effects of alcohol on embryonic and fetal development has substantially increased since then, alcohol use during pregnancy continues to be a major public health concern. According to statistics from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, 12 percent of pregnant women drank alcohol and 4 percent binge drank in the previous month between 2015 and 2017. The average number of drinks consumed per binge was six, and the average frequency of binge drinking was five times per month (White, 2020).
Explain which epidemiologic study design is most appropriate for your study, as well as the assumptions and tenets that support its application.
This study involved 500 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in their first trimester and are interested in completing a brief questionnaire on alcohol consumption screening.
The cross-sectional epidemiologic study design is the appropriate study selected to address this issue of alcohol abuse in pregnancy as the number of participants is numerous (Smith, 2014). Cross-sectional studies are analyzed. All elements (exposure, outcome, and confounders) are evaluated simultaneously in a cross-sectional study. A cross-sectional research’s major outcome measure is prevalence, unlike studies that start with a series of patients, cross-sectional studies frequently need to pick a sample of subjects from a vast and varied study population. As a result, they are vulnerable to selection error (Wang, & Cheng, 2020).
Analyze the strengths and the limitations of the potential data sources you might use for your study.
In relation to strengths, conducting it is relatively simple and affordable. There are no ethical issues. Only a one-time point is used to collect data on all variables. It is possible to investigate a variety of outcomes and exposures. It’s simple to come up with hypotheses. Several of the outcomes can be used to construct a comprehensive research project (Wang, & Cheng, 2020).
In the aspect of limitation, Data from cross-sectional studies will always represent determinants of survival as well as etiology because they evaluate prevalent rather than incident cases. The Incidence could not be determined. It’s possible that the associations found are difficult to interpret. Due to the low response rate, there is a risk of bias and misinterpretation due to bias(Wang, & Cheng, 2020).
References
White, A. M. (2020). Gender differences in the epidemiology of alcohol use and related harms in the United States. Alcohol research: current reviews, 40(2).
Wang, X., & Cheng, Z. (2020). Cross-sectional studies: strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations. Chest, 158(1), S65-S71.
Smith, L., Savory, J., Couves, J., & Burns, E. (2014). Alcohol consumption during pregnancy: a cross-sectional survey. Midwifery, 30(12), 1173-1178.
In this study, the use of these questionnaires would help the midwives to gather information about alcohol use to help identify women drinking at levels in excess of recommended limits in order that appropriate advice and support be offered
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