Qualitative Critique on the Meaning of Leukemia

Qualitative Critique on the Meaning of Leukemia

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Qualitative Critique on the Meaning of Leukemia

Constantina Papadopoulou, Bridget Johnston, and Markus Themessl-Huber conducted qualitative research that tries to explain the meaning-making processes of patients with Acute Leukemia within the first year after diagnosis or relapse. In this discussion, the authors intend to assess the research on whether it met its objectives.

The study is well introduced creating all its emphasis on the stated purpose. It is also well written and presentable not leaving out an important detail. The purpose of the study is mentioned with content flowing well presenting important information that is relevant to the phenomenon being studied. The introduction does not include information on other research. However, it presents key highlights on the meaning of Acute Leukemia to help increase subjective wellbeing (Adelstein, Anderson, & Taylor, 2014). They also added that understanding AL will significantly enhance resilience, distress tolerance and even creativity. The developers of this study stated that this is a vital study and it will help in providing better care to the patient.

Phenomenon

The study by Papadopoulou, Johnston, and Themessl-Huber is exploring the processes that patients with AL or Acute Leukemia go through every day in their life and through what basis they do create their meaning of the disease. This is because it is believed that when people who are sick experience negative events, the events always challenge the meaning that exists in them and create a new one through their own experiences. The importance of this study is well indicated at the beginning of the report and the authors came clear as to why they are conducting this research and the benefits it possesses (Adelstein, Anderson, & Taylor, 2014). They said that attempts of trying to find a new meaning have been seen to increase the subjective wellbeing of an individual. Also, this significantly enhance patient’s resilience, distress tolerance, and even their creativity.

Purpose and Method

The purpose of this study is clearly stated by the authors in the introduction segment. They said that their main aim was exploring patients' way of life towards accepting the fact that they have been diagnosed with Acute Leukemia. Also, they aimed at understanding the paths in life the patients are taking considering their health status. Bearing in mind that this is a qualitative method of research, they used the phenomenology type of qualitative study. Phenomenology is one of the methods used by researchers in describing an event that exists and forms an important part of the humans’ daily lives. A phenomena can anything like experiences (like the one discussed here), events, situations or even concepts that exist in the world (Adelstein, Anderson, & Taylor, 2014).

On the other hand, the researchers failed to include a hypothesis statement but rather mentioned the aim of the study. A purpose statement cannot be considered as a forecast of outcome. At least they were supposed to state whatever they expected in the study at the beginning. The purpose of the study is indeed in line with the chosen qualitative method since it aims at describing experiences of people/patients who have been diagnosed with Acute Leukemia. The authors stated clearly in the methods section that they used the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a methodology which acknowledged the plurality found in viewpoints and reflexive voice of the one conducting the study (Adelstein, Anderson, & Taylor, 2014). The thoughts and ideas are organized well and their writing skills are exemplary with sentences and ideas flowing from one paragraph to the other in a logical order. The interviews were well structured with simple questions that were easily understood by the participants.

Literature Review

The authors did not provide the required heading of literature review. However, the introductory part has current supporting evidences about the issue under consideration, which highlight the significance of the phenomenon and justify this research. The studies utilized both current and old sources which makes it the study to be reliable. They have critical reviewed the sources to inform their thoughts and methodology. The gap in knowledge is well stated by the authors that the patients' understanding and meaning-making is a process that goes through various stages such as decay, transformation and eventually growth stages (Adelstein, Anderson, & Taylor, 2014). The results are positive and they found the outcomes were good since they had some cases of testimonial growth and a good example of a patient who should a significant growth is Emma.

Sample

The main feature that made the participants in this study credible is for the fact that they were selected and recruited from the inpatients and outpatients of hematology clinics in Scotland from 2 NHS health boards namely Tayside and Gramian. They were mainly adults and who was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia with gender equality of both women and men but must not be bearing a cancer history. The participant must have undergone or done with the anticancer treatments if they were to be participants. Those were the simple inclusions and exclusion necessary to participate in the study. The authors did not indicate the rationale for sample size they clearly stated that they only combined and analyzed the interviews together to form a case. The data was well organized and arranged accordingly and the authors indicated the similarity and differences that were observed across the cases (Adelstein, Anderson, & Taylor, 2014). The authors did not indicate whether the rights of the participants were protected or not but it did provide them with written informed consent proving that they willingly decided to participate in the research.

Data Collection and Analysis

The authors used interviewing as a means of collecting data. They issued written questionnaires to the participants who were supposed to answer the simple questions provided in paper format. The interviews took place from Oct 2010 to March 2012 which was conducted by the 1st author with the activity taking place in a private room after the participant had agreed. The data collection process is in line with the method used since it requires detailed information from the participants themselves (Adelstein, Anderson, & Taylor, 2014). The data analysis section is well written and presented in a clear form that is simply understood by the reader. They started by combining and analyzing the two interviews together in order to form a case with clear steps as indicated in the textbook. The steps started with a deep examination of the cases pointing out the similarities as well as the differences for each case. The data is critically analyzed in the right steps and well presented.

Results

The section on which the results are discussed is well written with high standards and states the findings clearly. The findings give a clear picture of how patients with Acute Leukemia portray and thinks about themselves and what meaning they give to the disease. They made sure that the patients participated in all the three processes to get the correct meaning of how patients picture AL (Adelstein, Anderson, & Taylor, 2014). These processes include decay, transformation, and growth. The findings were not left hanging since they were supported by quotes from different participants who participated in the study. The findings tell a complete story where each of the participants was given a chance to tell their testimony and what they thought of AL. "…I think if [leukemia] was to have a landscape, it would be like, it would have thorny bits in it . . . getting prickled every so often.." Mary.

Implications for Practice

The researchers have discussed the implications for the practice and how deep it affects the patients. The implications section discusses the importance of involving the patients create their own meaning of AL since they feel powerless with the fact that someone else has taken control of their lives. It is a challenging moment for the patients and they should be given a positive reason to keep on fighting (Adelstein, Anderson, & Taylor, 2014). The implications and the findings for this study are in line with the nursing practice since it is the duty of nurses to nurse and take care of the patients since they have already lost hope with the feeling of being powerless and imprisoned by the hospital. This is a good practice and it should be applied to every clinic and every nursing practice should put it into practice.

Reference

Adelstein, K. E., Anderson, J. G., & Taylor, A. G. (2014). Importance of meaning-making for patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation [Online exclusive]. Oncology Nursing Forum, 41 , E172-E184. doi:10.1188/14.ONF.E172-E184