For this essay, the chosen topic is African American diagnosis with HIV from 2015-2019. This topic shall be used as a guide in answering the provided questions required for the assignment. Sections will be used to segregate ideas used in answering the questions.
Background Information
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the body's immunity by compromising the functions of the white blood cells, making a person more vulnerable to other infections (World Health Organization, 2017). The virus is primarily spread by coming into contact with certain body fluids from an infected person. When it comes to African Americans in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) note that this population accounts for the majority of new HIV diagnoses, compared to other races. For instance, in 2018, the African American population accounted for 42% of the new HIV diagnoses, despite accounting for 13% of the US population.
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While many factors can be attributed to such a trend, for example, lifestyle, this study will be focused on determining the prevalence of HIV infection among African Americans by State within the course of the five years between 2015 and 2019. The study will also shed light on the causes of the new infections and discuss what is currently being done to alleviate this trend. Once this is done, potential mitigation measures can be formulated and incorporated into the already existing curbing strategies to improve the effectiveness of the available programs.
We begin with the importance of the study by going into the questions associated with this section. Yes, the study is significant since, despite the control healthcare professionals have on the virus, HIV is still spreading at an alarming rate in the world with new infections reaching about 40, 000 each year in the United States alone (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). With such trends, questions emerge on the effectiveness of available programs to control the spread of the virus, thus necessitating the need for revised mitigation measures.
Literature Review
In this section, several articles are reviewed to get insights into the current situation of the phenomenon under study. Galvan et al. (2008) discuss how stigma and lack of social support among African Americans have resulted in the spread of the disease. Their findings indicate that while there exist channels of support for infected individuals, their attitude plays a significant role in the uptake of these services. Additionally, the authors note that individuals who experienced high social support perception were more likely to adhere to the government's social support services at the community level. This study indicates the lack of articulation between the provision of services and the individuals who need these services, thus necessitating the need for this study.
Additionally, looking deeper into the issue of stigmatization, Reid et al. (2014) acknowledge that community-level stigma interferes with psychological processes, thus affecting the prevention efforts. The authors correlate how stigmatization adversely affects public health efforts. These are but some of the studies that can be used for the literature review of this topic. Moving on to the questions section, relevant queries concerning this subtopic will be answered. Beginning with new insights increasing sensitivity to others' needs, yes, the study will fill in the gaps that previous related studies have left. It is clear that interventions are present, but the critical issue is their lack of mitigating the situation. This further articulates with the question of literature supporting the need for the study, which is still an affirmative answer because of the gaps in knowledge as initially discussed. The study has the potential to contribute to the intervention procedures currently available, such that filling the identified gaps may result in reduced cases of new infections among the target population.
Methodology
This being a qualitative study, qualitative measures are therefore required. Qualitative methodologies intend to understand a complex phenomenon and the actions in a given context (Queiros et al., 2017). Looking at the topic at hand, the issue of sampling becomes a significant factor to consider. Etikan et al. (2016) propose the use of convenience and purposive sampling in qualitative studies as this helps in the generalization of the findings to the target population. In this sampling technique, the researcher is tasked with finding participants who meet the inclusion criteria of the study without necessarily having a sample plan. Additional duties of the researcher include:
Researchers have a responsibility to develop the capacity for independent, honest, and critical thought throughout the study.
Researchers have a responsibility to express their research and share knowledge for the benefit of society.
Researchers have a responsibility to conduct themselves honestly and ethically throughout the study.
Researchers are ultimately responsible for personal and professional development in the field of study.
This method has both its advantages and disadvantages, such as being easy to implement but has the potential to omit an accurate representation of the situation on the ground when samples are collected from one side of the population. As for the sample size, the population of African Americans in the United States is about 12% of the entire population, while those infected is about 468, 800 people. These data provide useful insight enabling the use of Fischer's equation in the calculation of the sample size. However, in a qualitative study, the study will adopt a metanalysis kind of technique whereby articles discussing the objectives of the study dating between 2015 and 2019 will be used as the secondary sources of data. Data will be collected and coded into the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences software, which will further be used for the analysis.
The analysis will range from descriptive statistics such as the frequencies which will indicate a pattern, to more complex inferential statistics that will be used to assess the relationship between the variables at play. Useful inferential statistics include Chi-Square and Pearson's correlation coefficient. The two-work complementary, such that the Chi-Square identifies the existence of a potential relationship between two variables, while Pearson's coefficient indicates the nature of the relationship, i.e., positively or negatively related.
Next comes the issue of validity and credibility. Cronbach's coefficient alpha is a measure of internal consistency; that is, how closely a set of items is related. It is used in research to test the consistency of the sample population. Cronbach's alpha is a measure of scale reliability. The high value does not imply that the measure is unidimensional; thus, additional tests are required to prove that the scale in use is unidimensional. It is important to note that the Cronbach's alpha is not a statistical test, but more of a coefficient of reliability. Basing on the nature of how the Cronbach's coefficient alpha is calculated, an increase in the number of items under review will consequently lead to an increase in the alpha value.
The Kuder-Richardson formula is also another measure of reliability for a test with two variables, i.e., the answers to the test can either be right or wrong with no in-between. The Kuder-Richardson has two tests, that is, the Kuder-Richardson 20 and the Kuder-Richardson 21. The K-R 20 is used for items with varying difficulty, while the K-R 21 is used for items with equal difficulty. In the Kuder-Richardson test, a score of above 0.5 is usually considered acceptable. In this case, Cronbach's coefficient alpha, which is a general form of Kuder-Richardson (K-R) 20 formula, will be used. A value of 0.7 and above is considered acceptable, with 0.9 and above being excellent (Cronbach & Meehl, 1955).
By looking at the impact the study will have on society, Melnyk and Overholt (2015) propose integrating evidence-based decision-making into patient care. The authors suggest that for this to happen, studies must have been done to provoke change in the way things are done. Looking at the study at hand, the findings will help healthcare workers dealing with HIV infected African Americans make effective decisions that will control the spread of the virus. Additionally, as a healthcare worker, the findings can invoke a much-needed policy amendment as far as the issue of HIV is concerned, since available interventions are still not producing the intended results. In this latter section, the questions have been woven into the discussion; thus, a separate section is not necessary for tackling the questions.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). HIV and African Americans | Race/Ethnicity | HIV by Group | HIV/AIDS. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/racialethnic/africanamericans/index.html
Cronbach, L. J., & Meehl, P. E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52 (4), 281.
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics , 5 (1), 1-4.
Galvan, F. H., Davis, E. M., Banks, D., & Bing, E. G. (2008). HIV stigma and social support among African Americans. AIDS Patient Care and STDs , 22 (5), 423-436.
Melnyk, B. & Overholt, E. (2015). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice . Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health.
Queirós, A., Faria, D., & Almeida, F. (2017). Strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research methods. European Journal of Education Studies .
Reid, A. E., Dovidio, J. F., Ballester, E., & Johnson, B. T. (2014). HIV prevention interventions to reduce sexual risk for African Americans: The influence of community-level stigma and psychological processes. Social Science & Medicine , 103 , 118-125.
World Health Organization. (2017). Guidelines for managing advanced HIV disease and rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy, July 2017.
