Quantitative Nursing Research Critique

The study sought to ascertain the efficacy of music therapy in postoperative patients in terms of reducing anxiety, improving pain control, and increasing environmental noise pleasure. The author of the article solely looked at the good effects of music on postoperative patients and ignored the potential detrimental consequences on the patients’ social well-being.

The author provided a thorough literature evaluation for the study, highlighting numerous research sections such as complementary music therapy, environmental noise, relationship-based care, and postoperative anxiety.

The researcher used references that limited the literature review to the period from 2007-2012. The statements established in various sections of the study makes the research to relevant to the topic of the study since the statements argued for the statement of purpose.

Analyze the study framework or theoretical perspective.

The theoretical prospective that the article used is that music causes distraction that may also result in pain reduction for the postoperative patients. The study framework is based on this theory since the research utilized the distractive effect of music in increasing pain management. The framework elaborates how music can distract the patients from concentrating on the pain hence serving the interest of the article of music therapy for postoperative patients.

Identify, describe, and critique for appropriateness any research objectives, questions, or hypothesis.

The research objective was to determine the effectiveness of music therapy for the postoperative patients. The distractive effect of music help in pain reduction for the patients and also decrease their anxiety. The objective of the author could be answered because the hypotheses that were presented could be tested for an explanation of the problem of the study.

Identify, describe, and critique—conceptually and operationally—the major study variables.

The major variables include, state anxiety, environmental noise satisfaction and pain management satisfaction. These variables are used to show how they are affected by the music therapy. The research revealed that variables are dependent on gender and race of the victims. The author narrowed down to gender and race to show how the difference in standard care provisions.

Identify and critique the attributes and demographic variables.

The article presented a demographic data with gender and race as the variables. It implies that the impacts of music therapy to reduce for postoperative patients varies with gender and race.

Describe and critique the research design.

For this study, the author used review and descriptive research designs. The researcher provided a systematic review for the study problem and also used natural observations to extract data from interventions. Other research designs such experimental could not properly with researchers’ variables.

Describe and critique the sample and setting.

The study used a sample of all the patients that were admitted to the surgical unit. The participants for the intervention were to be 18 years of age and above. The research intervention did not use random sampling but placed the participants into groups. It implies that the sampling method was biased as there are some under-age postoperative patients who also respond differently to the music effects.

Describe and critique the measurement instrument used in the study.

The research used STAI that I State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for anxiety evaluation. The instrument was divided into two forms where one measured state anxiety and the other measured current emotional feelings of the participants. The results obtained from the instrument may not be accurate because there are other causes of anxiety apart from surgical pain.

Describe and critique the procedures for data collection

The producers for data collection involved explanations for the purpose of study to the postoperative patients who were to participate in the intervention. Then they fill the survey forms that would later be used for data analysis. This method is prone to error because the patients can give their personal opinions rather than the intended observations.

Describe and critique the statistical analysis.

The statistical analysis that was used is a t-test that provided a comparative analysis of the group mean differences. The t-test may be limited to paired set of data.

Describe and critique the researcher’s interpretation.

The researcher is satisfied with the findings and concluded that music therapy helps in improving the experiences in post operation. The music therapy is limited to period when the patients are not feeling asleep. The music therapy help the nurses to manage pain for the patients by reducing the interferences that may be caused by noises from other postoperative patients. I can apply the study findings in my evidence based practice project because it helps in reducing anxiety and increasing pain management.