Phenomenon of Interest
This paper involves a critical qualitative analysis of an article titled ‘Rural Black Women Thought’s About Exercise’ (Evans, 2009). The article mainly focuses on the thoughts possessed by black women in the rural areas regarding exercises. Additionally, it focuses on Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), which is one of the main causes of death and disability in US. It mainly affects black women in the rural areas. Lack of adequate physical activities among the rural black women is one of the reasons why they are at risk of acquiring Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). Additionally, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are other reasons for CHD among the rural black women (Evans, 2009). The inability of these women to incorporate activities such as exercise in their lives often leads to CHD. The article states that black women who are at risk (vulnerable women) are oblivious of the situation compared to their white counterparts. This lack of knowledge makes it difficult for them to change their lifestyle. It also states that various researches that have been done have found certain social, environmental and cultural barriers to be the reasons why these women do not exercise (Evans, 2009). However, the article does not give a comprehensive description of CHD. It however found the relationships between exercise and heart, the various barriers to exercise, the reasons to exercise and the actions that may be taken.
Purpose
The author of the article failed to clearly state the purpose of the study. He merely gave the relationship of Coronary Heart Disease and exercise. The purpose of the study is to aid clinicians develop effective prevention methods for CHD among the rural black women. However, the researcher indicated the importance of the concerned study to nursing. It gave the relationship between CHD and exercise. It also included the barriers to exercise among the black women and the benefits of exercising. These are significant to nursing as they enable clinicians to find the appropriate ways to mitigate CHD among the black women in the rural areas.
Additionally, it can enable women to understand the benefits of incorporating physical activity in their lives. The study is important since CHD is one of the leading causes of death among the rural black women. In addition to this, women with CHD spend a lot of money on treatment. The researcher noted that people with chronic diseases like CHD use up to six times as much money on health care as healthy people do per year. The research is thus important in nursing in that it assists in reducing deaths and disabilities caused by CHD and also in reducing costs related to CHD.
Methodology and Sampling
Critically, the researcher used an ethnographic design in carrying out the study and this was appropriate since it involved the study of people of a location and gender and their beliefs about exercise. This method matches well with the purpose of the study since it enables the understanding of the causes of CHD, effects of lack of exercise and the benefits of the practice. Individual semi-structured interviews were admitted to the individual women included in the study and this made it possible to know their personal beliefs and understandings of exercise. On critical analysis, the method of data collection thus enabled the researcher know the barriers to exercise among the rural black women and the beliefs that they had about exercise.
The research used convenience and snow ball sampling methods in data collection. These were used since they were non probabilistic and accessing the women was a little bit difficult. The individuals to be included in the study as informants had to be black women aged between 40 and 60 years old. In addition to this, they had to be residents of southern rural county and must have a condition that may be related to CHD for example hypertension and obesity. Critically, this ensured that the sample obtained was appropriate in understanding the beliefs the women had about exercise and behaviors of the women. It also focused on the people who were at high risk of the disease and thus the sample was appropriate. The researchers excluded women who were educated as health education affected their possibility of being at risk of the CHD.
Data collection
The method of data collection focused on the experiences of the rural black women. It targeted women who were at high risk of acquiring the disease and focused on their beliefs and practices. Critically, the researcher described the strategies employed in data collection as McSweeney Acute as well as Prodromal Myocardial Infarction Symptom survey (Evans, 2009). This method was used by the researcher as it enabled vivid description of the situation under study. It enabled the development of a comprehensive tool, that promotes high validity of the content and that is widely acceptable. The strategy enabled the inclusion of multiple questions that are simple to answer as there were choices. Adjustments in the questions administered were made to suit the rural black women’s lifestyles and thoughts.
Kleinman’s EMs and CHD control methods were used to guide the interview questions administered (Evans, 2009). Upon critical analysis, these ensured that relevant questions were included in the interview. In collecting the data, the study was presented to non professional workers in a health facility in a small rural southern town. The employees in the facility were chosen since they were black women aged between 40 and 60 years old and were residents of the town. The initial meeting required the interested women to fill in forms detailing contact information. The methods for data collection were explicit and ensured rigor. One interviewer conducted the interviews so that the whole procedure was standardized and homogenous.
The researcher also employed the expertise of an experienced qualitative professional to ensure the reliability of results. The qualitative research expert monitored the study and participated in the coding, defining, and the final analysis of the data. The rights of interviewees were addressed by the interviewers. Critically, the researcher explained the purpose of the study to concerned women (who were to be interviewed). The rights of the interviewees were also addressed by them reading and signing the health insurance and accountability act and study contents. The study can be easily replicated since the procedures used can be easily employed. The findings, however, can never be the same since the interviews were administered to individuals and all had different experiences. The circumstances of the people who are to be included in a similar study elsewhere are also different thus the results cannot be similar.
Critically, the researcher did not describe the saturation of the collected. Data saturation refers to when the researcher gets the same information from the interviewed respondents. However, some of the questions that the interviewer included had similar answers thereby showing data saturation. Critically, this is a considerable provision when scrutinized critically in the realms of research execution. The interviewer used twenty women as interviewees and all twenty of them agreed that it is okay to exercise. Fourteen women included in the interview identified physical barriers as the reason why they do not exercise while five gave mental barriers as the reason why they do not exercise. When asked the actions that they could take to prevent CHD, all of them gave the answer that they could take up current practices such as walking around the neighborhood.
Interviews
The interview questions administered by the researcher addressed the issues expressed in the problem statement. The questions touched on issues such as rural women’s understanding of the relationship between physical activities and CHD. Additionally, it discerned their views regarding physical exercises and other characterizing benefits. Critically, one of the interview questions, for example, sought to know if the interviewees participated in any physical activity other than their regular jobs in the last three months (Evans, 2009). This actually aimed at understanding weather they understood the importance of regular exercise to their health. The researcher also notes that the qualitative analysis revealed the thoughts of the rural black women about exercise, the barriers to exercise among these women, the reasons why they could take to exercising and the physical actions that they could incorporate in their lives to prevent CHD. These findings show that the interview questions addressed the issues that were expressed in the problem statement.
The structure of the interview questions did not guide respondents towards a certain response. Critically, they were objective. Some gave simple choices like ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ while others gave the interviewees freedom to use their own words. Additionally, some of the questions were subjective, for example, one sought to know if the interviewees have ever been told that they have high blood pressure and thus there was no way that they could have been lead towards a certain response. The sequence of the questions also did not guide the respondents towards any direction.
Data analysis
The researcher described the strategies she used to analyze the data that was collected. Descriptive statistics was used in analyzing the demographic and radio frequency data collected (Evans, 2009). In addition to this, content analysis and continuous comparison were employed in the analysis of the qualitative data that the researcher collected. Critically, the researcher checked all the transcripts and made corrections where necessary and then ran the transcripts in an Ethnograph v5.08, a software program that numbered each line of the transcript and aided in sorting and storage of the data. The researcher developed codes after the first four interviews to categorize linked content and definitions were given to the codes. The comparisons were done to find similarities and differences in the data collected and any possible pattern.
Credibility, Audibility, and Fittingness
Critically, the data that the researcher collected were credible and objective. Women who participated in the interviews were not coerced or induced into participating in the study. The interviewer also explained to them the purpose of the study and their rights and thus they can recognize the experience as their own. They were also allowed to ask any question before the start of the interview so as to get better understanding of the activity. They can also recognize the experience as their own since the researcher has included their responses and views in the article. The researcher, for example, states that one of the women said that too much exercise is dangerous to health yet the article aimed at promoting frequent exercise among the women. The ownership of the experience is important as it gives credibility to the whole study. It shows that the findings used in making conclusions and recommendations are not doctored and thus can be used in clinical practices.
The ideas that the researcher possessed could easily be followed by individuals who read the article. Critically, the researcher sought to promote exercise among the rural black women whom she identified as being at high risk to CHD. Readers can clearly see that the author explained why these women are at high risk to CHD and their beliefs about exercise and barriers to exercise. The author then used clearly structured questions that sought to understand if these women understood the link between heart and exercise and the importance of exercise. The characteristics of the individuals included in the sample were also clear to the readers thus easily understandable.
Concurrently, the research process is clearly documented beginning with the used design, taken samples, and the instruments that were used. Additionally, the procedures and the methods of data analysis are also clearly documented by the researcher. In documenting the research process, the researcher uses terms such as ‘ethnographic design was used’, ‘an overview study was presented’ and ‘descriptive statistics were used’ among others. The findings of the study are applicable in many situations outside the study area. The participants, for example, stated that exercise also assists in improving other conditions such as hypertension, obesity and diabetes (Evans, 2009).
This means that the findings are applicable in situations where individuals are assisted to lose weight or manage hypertension. The findings are also applicable in situations that the individuals under study suffer from stress since the participants noted that exercise is an effective stress reliever. The strategy used in the study was descriptive and involved use of qualitative data and thus compatible with the purpose of the study. The study aimed at assisting clinicians develop an effective way of assisting black rural women prevent CHD through exercise and thus a description of the link between heart and CHD is necessary.
Findings
Critically, the results of the study revealed that they are applicable globally and thus the context of the findings was universal. The interviewed women believed that physical exercise helps prevent heart diseases and other coronary complications. Barriers to such activities might prevent one from leading a healthy lifestyle. Critically, the reasons to exercise were noted to be varied ranging from encouragement from health care provider to recommendations from books while the actions that could be taken included things that the women are already doing such as walking in the neighborhood (Evans, 2009). The researcher’s conceptualization is true to the data as she has clearly shown the link between CHD and exercise. She also placed the study within the context that is already known about the disease. Another study, for example, had noted that the black women in the rural areas did not engage in exercise since the health care providers had not advised them to do so.
Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations
Critically, the study’s findings were limited to a small sample of 20 individuals most of whom are low income earners. Additionally, it was limited to black women with mainly basic education. Critically, the conclusions made provided a general overview of the findings making it easy for readers place a context under which the study may be used. An example is that the author suggests that clinicians may educate rural black women the importance of exercise by including other black women testimonies in their classes. The conclusions also reflect the findings of the study for example the importance of clinicians knowing the thoughts of the women about exercise. Additionally, the clinicians have to know what may bar these women from exercising. Nonetheless, the study has not given recommendation for further study on the issue. It has recommended that research needs to be done on the best intervention methods as well as how to initiate and maintain exercises among the high risk women (Evans, 2009). My opinion is that more study involving a larger sample is advisable in order to attain comprehensive and universally applicable result. Additionally, I could recommend that the study include rural white women so as to know if they share the same beliefs as their black counterparts. Finally, the importance of the study in nursing is clear. Clinicians must understand the thoughts of the women about physical activities and what bar them from executing such necessities. Additionally, clinicians can educate women to increase their knowledge of CHD risk.
Reference
Evans, L. (2009). Rural Black Women’s Thoughts about Exercise. Monticello, AR: University of Arkansas.