Presenting and Publishing Research, and Preparing Research Proposals

Question 1 

The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) has the mission of improving and promoting the health of individuals, communities, families, and populations. The NINR performs basic, clinical, and translational research (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2011). The priorities of the NINR research build the scientific foundation for disease prevention and clinical practice. The main goal of the NINR is to reduce the spread of diseases among the various communities. Therefore, the research that is performed by NINR prioritizes the actions of the healthcare and nursing industry that prioritize disease prevention (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2011). The research priorities also build on the management and elimination of the symptoms that lead to disease, and the enhancement of the end-of-life and palliative care. NINR research also trains the next generation of scientists (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2011). Therefore, the role of nursing, according to the NINR, is all-encompassing and seeks to eradicate human suffering. The NINR seeks to take nursing to the next level by supporting the studies that are centered on the science of health. The science of health focuses on the promotion of health the quality of life. 

NINR has ensured that the current nursing research priorities have been put into consideration to benefit the communities. In its bid to enhance the health promotion and prevention of diseases, NINR may make the addition of educating the nursing professionals to boost the quality of the care that they offer to their patients (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2011). The patients can also be educated to enable them to identify the gaps in patient care that, if fixed, nursing care will be smoothened. In addition to NINR concentrating on the research that involves palliative and end-of-life care, the organization can also focus on the studies centered on the sandwich generation. Healthcare professionals have identified the sandwich generation as the individuals who are taking care of their children while at the same time taking care of their aging parents. Usually, the individuals in the sandwich generation are faced with various challenges that emanate from their reduced ability to balance their careers and family care. The sandwich generation is, therefore, characterized by stressed-out men and women who may be diagnosed with psychological disorders such as depression and may require intensive nursing care. 

The nursing research priorities have various effects on nursing researchers. Firstly, the priorities lay down the various aspects of research that the NINR focuses on to improve the quality of life for the individuals in the various communities (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2011). The NINR, therefore, sets the guidelines that are supposed to be followed by the nursing professionals in their quality care efforts. The establishment of the priorities by the organization leads to the setting of goals related to the nursing research in a bid to better the same. Secondly, the nursing research priorities affect the nursing researchers by prompting them to come up with contemporary nursing practices in line with modern technology and its application in healthcare and nursing (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2011). Therefore, the creativity of the researchers is guaranteed since they are continually educating themselves on the latest trends in the nursing industry. The priorities, therefore, increase the overall nursing care in healthcare institutions, which leads to an improvement in the quality of life and the reduction of diseases. 

Question 2 

Various researchers in the healthcare and nursing industry have defined evidence-based practice (EBP) as a practice that is reliant on the use of scientific evidence for decision-making and guidance (Lewis et al., 2015). The introduction of evidence-based medicine in the twentieth century spearheaded the advancement of evidence-based practice in the industry. The main goal of the EBP is to eliminate the unsound and the outdated policies that reduce the efficiency of patient care in the healthcare and nursing industry. For a practice to be considered evidence-based, it has to be classified as a randomized or quasi-experimental design study (Lewis et al., 2015). The practice is therefore considered evidence-based if it has subsequent quality experimental and quasi-experimental group design studies, which have been performed by at least two different research groups or individual researchers. The performance of the research by two different research individuals and groups is meant to ensure that the quality of the evidence-based practices is guaranteed. The research is also supposed to ensure diversity in the provided topics of study. An example of a randomized design study is the research on the effects of alcohol on the efficiency of workers at a particular company. 

The other criterion that qualifies a practice as evidence-based is that it focuses on single-subject design studies (Lewis et al., 2015). Single-subject design studies are mostly used in the fields of education, psychology, and human behavior. In the single-subject design studies, the subject in the research serves as his or her control rather than having another individual or group control them. An example of a single subject research design study is the investigation of self-injurious behavior among individuals with severe cognitive disabilities (Lewis et al., 2015). The research participants are observed over four sequential conditions. The first condition is the participant being alone and having no contingencies being applied. The other condition is the reception of attention from the members of staff once the self-injurious behavior is observed. The other sequential condition is the participant having play and game materials around and the members of staff passing around a non-contingent question to find out how the respondents are doing. The last sequential condition is the giving of the staff to perform simple tasks for the participants. 

The other criterion that qualifies practice as evidence-based is that it combines various evidence (Lewis et al., 2015). The combination of evidence in practice is composed of the following. Firstly, the combined evidence is composed of a high quality randomized or quasi-experimental group design study. Secondly, the combined evidence contains not less than three high-quality single-subject design studies, which have been performed by more than three different researchers or investigators. An example of research, which combines various evidence, is a study to investigate the use of Picture-Exchange-Communication System (PECS) among the children who have been diagnosed with autism. The research focuses on PECS acquisition, social-communicative behavior, speech, and problematic behavior. The research is categorized under the randomized trial design and has been repeated over time by various researchers (Lewis et al., 2015). The application of the PECS by the caregivers is an example of evidence-based practice. 

Question 3 

Hypothesis 

H 1 : Opioid substances lead to addiction to patients when used for pain relief. 

H 0 : Opioid substances do not lead to addiction to patients when used for pain relief. 

Theory 

According to von Hippel et al. (2017), the use of opioid substances for pain medication therapy has been considered a stereotype. The individuals who have had a past of drug and substance abuse, including opioid substances, are faced with a lot of stigma. The stigmatization in society distances the former drug abusers from receiving pain medication due to the fear of becoming addicts again. Polonsky et al. (2015) discuss the issue of addiction in opioid substitution therapy with a focus on Ukrainian prisons. The participants of the research were people living with HIV/AIDS. The attitudes differed along geographical and occupational lines. Overall, the use of opioid substances for pain medication was found to lead to addiction to the drugs among the patients. 

Design Model 

The most appropriate design model to be used in the research to investigate whether the use of opioid substances leads to addiction among the patients is the randomized controlled trial. In the randomized control trial, the participants are to be chosen for the research at random. The control experiment for the research is the use of placebos for the reduction in pain among the patients. 

Method 

A survey will be conducted in a healthcare setting to investigate the ability of the opioid substances to lead to the addiction to the drugs by the various patients over continued use. The survey is to involve 100 participants. Half of the respondents will be enrolled in the opioid substitution therapy, while the other half of the participants will be under the medication of placebos to reduce their pain at the healthcare institutions. 

Anticipated Results 

The anticipated results are that the patients who are enrolled in opioid substitution therapy will have different levels of addiction. According to Kourounis et al. (2016), opioid substitution therapy has spearheaded the treatment of opioid use disorders. However, there is an active debate on whether substitution therapy leads to addiction among the patients, which may have lasting adverse effects. Based on the treatment threshold of the patient with opioid use disorders, the issue of addiction to opioid disorders can be handled effectively. Methadone and buprenorphine have, for a long time, been used in opioid substitution therapy in the various healthcare organizations across the globe (Noble & Marie, 2018). The two substances have varying pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. The substances have, in the past, been found to lead to addiction among the patients recovering from opioid use disorders. Therefore, leading scientists in the world are working round the clock to discover the various substances that can be used for opioid substitution therapy. 

Potential Dissemination Avenues 

One of the potential dissemination avenues for the research is the blog. A blog can be used to disseminate the research while targeting readers who enjoy using the internet as a product of technological advancement. Another dissemination avenue is the local newspaper, which targets the patients and nurses at the smaller hospitals, and the patients in such healthcare institutions. 

References 

Kourounis, G., Richards, B. D. W., Kyprianou, E., Symeonidou, E., Malliori, M. M., & 

Samartzis, L. (2016). Opioid Substitution Therapy: Lowering the Treatment Thresholds. Drug and Alcohol Dependence , 161 , 1-8. 

Lewis, C. C., Fischer, S., Weiner, B. J., Stanick, C., Kim, M., & Martinez, R. G. (2015). 

Outcomes for Implementation Science: An Enhanced Systematic Review of Instruments using Evidence-based Rating Criteria. Implementation Science , 10 (1), 155. 

National Institute of Nursing Research. (2011, October). Bringing Science to Life: NINR STRATEGIC PLAN . Retrieved from https://www.ninr.nih.gov/sites/files/docs/ninr-strategic-plan-2011.pdf 

Noble, F., & Marie, N. (2018). Management of Opioid Addiction with Opioid Substitution 

Treatments: Beyond Methadone and Buprenorphine. Frontiers in Psychiatry , 9 . 

Polonsky, M., Azbel, L., Wickersham, J. A., Taxman, F. S., Grishaev, E., Dvoryak, S., & Altice, 

F. L. (2015). Challenges to Implementing Opioid Substitution Therapy in Ukrainian Prisons: Personnel Attitudes Toward Addiction, Treatment, and People with HIV/AIDS. Drug and Alcohol Dependence , 148 , 47-55. 

von Hippel, C., Henry, J. D., Terrett, G., Mercuri, K., McAlear, K., & Rendell, P. G. (2017). 

Stereotype Threat and Social Function in Opioid Substitution Therapy Patients. British Journal of Clinical Psychology , 56 (2), 160-171.