Government institutions, international organizations, conduct research studies, and business entities to improve productivity and come up with improved services. For example, in healthcare, such studies are conducted to develop effective interventions for various diseases. Such reviews follow guidelines on the safety of participants and therefore adopt the "no harm approach." The considerations are emphasized so as not to put any participant at risk regarding his/her health. It is essential to understand some essential terms in a research study.
The theoretical frameworks are the current documented ideas concerning the topic of study. This is usually information that forms the basis of current guidelines in intervention and acts as a baseline for the study. An experimental group is a group that is given a variable in the study while, on the other hand, a control group is not given variable (Kumar 2019). The two groups are usually observed for some time, and the overall experiment's outcome depends on the reaction of these groups (Levitas, 2015).
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Nursing study examining the effects of an intervention
HIV/AIDs is an area that plenty of studies have been conducted in regard to its management and infection control. The disease was spread through sex, and commercial sex workers are usually at the highest risk of infection. A study was conducted in South Africa on Antiretroviral therapy among female sex workers and the barriers they face. Female sex workers are at a higher risk of contracting HIV as the nature of their work exposes them. In Port Elizabeth, where the study was conducted, adult HIV prevalence was estimated to be at 18.7% (Shwartz et al., 2016). Adult women above the age of 18 years, who stated commercial sex as their main livelihood source, were targeted in the study.
The selected women were subjected to a questionnaire on reproductive health, which was administered by an interviewer and lasted approximately 45 minutes. The survey covered questions related to reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and condom use. After the questionnaire, a nurse conducted a comprehensive screening for all the participants. The testing covered all sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. The HIV test was done twice to confirm, and any positive case in both experiments was concluded to be a person living with HIV. These positive cases were referred to as government health facilities for management.
Four hundred thirty-five women were screened, and out of this number, 63.7% were HIV positive (Shwartz et al., 2016). Among those who were found to be HIV positive, 48% were on antiretroviral therapy. This demonstrated a gap in terms of accessing antiretroviral therapy services. Some of the reasons that contributed to this gap included a lack of regular transport costs. Some women did not consider the treatment as significant, and some stated that they did not have time to attend healthcare services. An alternative approach to administering antiretroviral therapy (Community-based nursing) was recommended, as it would reduce the stigma associated with attending HIV centers in hospitals. It would also boost drug adherence.
There were a few limiting factors. Statistics on the viral load of all women in the study were not available. The women were also expected to self-report on critical aspects like previous ARV use or HIV diagnosis, and this did not provide accurate results as some were biased. The credibility of that information depended solely on the participants' integrity, as there was no way of proving whether the responses were factual or false.
In the study, the experimental group was prominent. However, a control group was not very clear. Female commercial sex workers who strictly adhered to antiretroviral medication would have been compared to their counterparts who were diagnosed with HIV but not on drugs. In that way, findings on overall health well-being between the two groups would be compared, and better analysis presented.
On the safety of participants, this was not breached or threatened since the study focused on adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Participants were not given any untested medicine, which would pose a health risk to them. However, there was a possibility of stigmatization on participants since it targeted commercial sex workers, and in South Africa, they are usually subjected to various forms of violence.
The study could be improved by widening the net. HIV affects males and females, children, and adults in equal measure. Participants could be drawn from all these categories. Women's experimental groups could also be diversified in that women from different backgrounds who are HIV positive participated. The geographical location could also be expanded to get better representation from a wider area.
Nursing study that utilizes some aspect of the internet
The Internet is a vital aspect of the modern world. Many sectors are adopting an e-business model, which improves efficiency. In healthcare in general and in nursing, the use of the Internet is widely embraced in learning, documentation, making orders, and automation of inpatient services. Electronic Health (E-Health) is a healthcare service delivery and associated resources electronically (Ahmad 2018). In general, there are two elements of e-health: healthcare workers (nurses) seeking health-related information online for further learning and patients who use online platforms to access healthcare services.
Globally in the healthcare system, nurses are critical at all levels as advocated for by different guidelines targeting high-quality healthcare services. Muayyad Ahmad conducted a study on Nurses and Internet health-related information (Ahmad, 2018). The study's main objective entailed the reviewing of the contemporary theoretical framework on the level of internet information use and access by nurses. Continuous medical education and professional development is an integral part of the nursing profession. The Internet provides a platform where healthcare workers can quickly access information. However, such information is only for learning purposes as different practitioners and medical students upload it. It complements what the nurses already learned and practice, and as such, internet information should not be treated as the primary basis of any intervention strategy.
A lot of information is available online. Sometimes the availability results in the conflict of ideas or misunderstanding between nurses and patients. This is because patients attempt to self-diagnose online and have a specific management plan in mind before going to the hospital. Once the patient is screened at a medical facility and given medication that is not in line with what he/she read online, it puts the two parties in the collision. All medical interventions are specific to individuals, and different considerations determine medication prescribed, including the dosage. Mobile phone applications that have health-related information assist in general awareness, but the credibility of such information should be confirmed.
In the study, a snowballing method was conducted on various web-based sites and applications to determine their frequency of use (Ahmad, 2018). The qualitative and quantitative methods were used during the research. The sample included 4,206 nurses (experimental group), 23 online health-related articles, and 114 medical websites, specifically focusing on postnatal care and mental health.
One advantage of the Internet in healthcare as per the study was informed and empowered patients. This complemented the management plan of nurses as the patients were already in an excellent position to understand why specific tests were being conducted, and individual interventions preferred to others. Besides, the client feels like part of the process, which aligns very well with the patient cantered approach in healthcare service delivery.
There were some barriers in regards to accessing internet information. The most significant barrier, as stated by the sampled nurses, was time. Because of the work they were engaged in, they were so preoccupied and did not have adequate time to surf online for such information. Also, their searching procedure limited information they got probably because of the arrangement of the keywords in the search. Furthermore, there was a form of institutional barrier in that some nurses did not have access to passwords of institutions' computers.
The biggest challenge in this study was the accuracy of the information provided by the experimental group. Online frequency search of medical sites was also not specific as it is challenging to trace if it was indeed a medical practitioner accessing the site. This type of research study can be improved by having a set of two groups of nurses: one group can access online health-related information for a given period, while the other group would serve as the control group. The same would apply to patients being served with the two groups of nurses, preferably with similar conditions. The outcome of the patients and the general feeling of the nurses would then be analyzed.
Technological advancements, including the Internet, come with positives that need to be emulated. Insurance payment claims is an area that has greatly benefitted from such technology. Online health information should be moderated to fit within required standards while still informing and complementing existing approaches.
Population Estimates Representation
In research studies that involve experimental and control groups, population estimates are critical and there are various ways of representing them as presented in table 1.
Table 1
Population estimates representation
| POPULATION | PERCENTAGE |
| European American | 20 |
| African American | 30 |
| Native American | 20 |
| Hispanic American | 30 |
The same information can also be graphically represented as in Figure 1:
FIGURE 1
Population estimates representation
References
Ahmad, M. M., Musallam, R., & Allah, A. H. (2018). Nurses and internet health-related information: review on access and utility. Clujul Medical , 91 (3), 266.
Schwartz, S., Lambert, A., Phaswana-Mafuya, N., Kose, Z., Mcingana, M., Holland, C., & Baral, S. (2017). Engagement in the HIV care cascade and barriers to antiretroviral therapy uptake among female sex workers in Port Elizabeth, South Africa: findings from a respondent-driven sampling study. Sex Transm Infect , 93 (4), 290-296.
West, D. M. (2016). How 5G technology enables the health internet of things. Brookings Center for Technology Innovation , 3 , 1-20.
World Health Organization. (2016). Combined global demand forecasts for antiretroviral medicines and HIV diagnostics in low-and middle-income countries from 2015 to 2020.
