There is an amplified prominence on evidence-based practice (EBP) to demonstrate medical decision-making. The EBP is demarcated as the reliability of superlative study evidence with clinical proficiency, patient values and requirements in the conveyance of high-quality, cost efficient healthcare (McCay, 2019). Globally, EBP has become a significant preoccupation or researchers and nurses engaged in the presentation of treatment. Working within the healthcare sector necessitates the medical practitioners to be conversant with investigation in a way that appraises practice, particularly if working towards a degree (McCay, 2019).
Therefore, a nurse can benefit from a discussion that aids them in appreciating the sequence of analysis that employs quantitative methodology. The paper presents an analysis of the components of quantitative research methodology by using mental illness as the practice problem. It further aims to formulate a research question, testable hypothesis and relevant study structure for a quantitative analysis, and determine the significance of the assessment.
Social scientists have faced significant challenges in examining the issue of mental illness as mutable, distinctive as individual human experience, and distilling their conclusions in a logical, unbiased manner. Early psychotherapists believed that the examination of patient psychology necessitated personalized, florid descriptions of personal encounters; however the information yielded was regularly problematic to assess in an objective and organized manner (Fowler et al., 2020). Conversely, behaviorists and cognitivists assumed that human feelings, perceptions, and actions should be documented in a close-ended approach and evaluated statistically.
Considering qualitative research requires the identification of dependent and independent variables. In this case, a patient’s outcome is the dependent variable while mental illness is the independent variable. Therefore, the data gathered through this technique is usually straightforward to examine, but more challenging to eloquently interpret if such variables are ignored. These two schools of thought resulted to the establishment of research philosophy identified as quantitative approach to research that is currently used by nurses to address nursing practice issues linked to mental illness treatment.
Employing the quantitative approach to research and address the psychological diseases will boost the measurement of illness growth rate (Fowler et al., 2020). Furthermore, it will enable nurses, governments, and other stakeholders to have accurate measurement of the veracity of the disease to all the generations of patients. Consequently, the player will identify the issues influencing the existence of mental illness amongst consumers.
Since quantitative study quantifies patients’ encounters in numerical terms, researchers conclude that the appropriate method to address practitioners’ errors in treatment of mental illness is to pursue objective, concreted techniques of employing and recording variables. The significance of the study is to help research nurses understand how patient experiences can be measured in numerical fashion to enable them understand the veracity of the medical concern to be addressed (Woodward et al., 2017). Furthermore, the research study is beneficial since quantitative measurement relies on numerical data, thus, when there is no numerical data on the patients, they are regarded as mentally healthy.
Similarly, using strong-minded systems of evaluation comprising close-ended reviews and study, a nurse collects numerical statistics on patients’ feelings, behaviors, and perceptions. The information is then assessed enabling the research practitioners to equate different groups, and investigate direct and non-linear connections between the recorded variables (Alimohammadi et al., 2018). Consequently, when beginning a treatment program, the research nurses will have a conclusive data on the number of patients to diagnose and the number of practitioners to be deployed in every affected location.
In conclusion, this paper has discussed quantitative study rationally and its impact on evidence-based practice using mental illness as the point of reference. Mental illness has posed a significant threat to global practice of healthcare practice since it has impacted both medical practitioners and consumers in general. Quantitative analysis tends to simplify and help nurses address such medical issues by presenting research practitioners an accurate data on the patient experiences, the target population, and the factors leading to psychological illness. Consequently, the medical providers will achieve successful management and treatment of patients.
References
Alimohammadi, N., Maleki, B., Abbasi, S., Shakerian, B., & Hemati, Z. (2018). The effect of adaptation training on controlling maladaptation behaviors in adolescents with asthma based on Roy adaptation model. Tanaffos, 17(2), 103-110. Web.
Fowler, S. B., Vinson, S., & Kollstedt, K. (2020). Nurse-driven comfort interventions in the perioperative setting. International Journal for Human Caring, 24(4), 237–244. Web.
McCay, R. (2019). Burnout and Psychological Capital in Rural Critical Access Hospital Nurses [PhD Thesis]. Web.
Woodward, M., Billot, L., Arima, H., Hackett, M. L., Muñoz-Venturelli, P., Lavados, P. M., Brunser, A., Peng, B., Cui, L., & Song, L. (2017). Statistical analysis plan for the Head Position in Stroke Trial (HeadPoST): An international cluster cross-over randomised trial. International Journal of Stroke, 12(6). Web.