Theory and Research as tools in nursing

Theory and Research as tools in nursing

Theory and Research as tools in nursing
Theory and Research as tools in nursing: Nurses use theory and research to make sense of various questions related to professional nursing practice.
Hence present a clinical situation too needing further nursing research. Explain how you would incorporate theory to guide nursing research.
Many researchers have not applied theories to their studies when they could have done so (Balfe & Brugha, 2009; Bayrami, Taghipour, & Ebrahimipour, 2014; Heit, Blackwell, & Kelly, 2008). In a review paper, Conn, Cooper, Ruppar, and Russell (2008) sought to characterize the reports of intervention studies conducted by nurses. They found that about half of authors reported using a theory or framework, slightly less than half shared any links between theory or framework and their interventions, and only about a quarter of authors reported sufficient detail either for future researchers to replicate the interventions or for clinicians to translate them into practice.
Interdisciplinary scholars (Kobrin, 2011; Michie, Fixsen, Grimshaw, & Eccles, 2009; Sales, Smith, Curran, & Kochevar, 2006) have called for health-care researchers to explicate how theory guides research more clearly. Painter and colleagues (2008) investigated the degree to which researchers used theory to conduct their studies. They reviewed health behavior publications in three disciplines—medicine, public health, and psychology—from 2000–2005. Among the 193 publications they identified, only about a third of the teams mentioned theory.
Michie and Abraham (2004) examined reviews of studies in which researchers claimed to have assessed the efficacy of theory-guided interventions to promote health behaviors. These authors concluded that researchers often did not (a) explain how theory guided their studies in their publications or (b) delineate why or how they proposed that their intervention would be effective, according to their theories.
Some researchers may apply components from theories to their studies, however, they often apply only one or a few components,

Theory and Research as tools in nursing
Theory and Research as tools in nursing

rather than all that are relevant (Conn et al., 2008; Michie & Abraham, 2004). The lack of adequate application of theory to research and of clear explication about how theory guides research impede researchers who strive to replicate prior studies and develop knowledge to support nursing practice (Fawcett, 1978; Meleis, 2012). Perhaps many researchers have not clearly understood how and why theory can guide them across phases of research.

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Our objectives are to clarify and exemplify how researchers can apply theory in health-related research. In the following sections, we explain how three research teams applied one theory in phases of research and we illustrate our points with examples from these three studies. If nurse researchers could improve the adequacy with which we conceptualize, apply, and report both the “why” and “how” of theories guiding our studies, then we could replicate such studies more readily and generate knowledge for nursing practice more efficiently.
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Background
Three research teams guided their studies with the Theory of Care-Seeking Behavior (TCSB). This theory is a middle-range theory focused on one aspect of human experience (Smith & Liehr, 2008). As a middle-range theory, the TCSB is abstract enough to guide researchers and clinicians in generalizations, yet specific enough to guide research (Cody, 1999; Smith & Liehr, 2008). It can be used to describe, explain or predict the phenomenon of care-seeking. According to the TCSB, care-seeking behavior refers to individuals’ use of clinical services for health care, including engaging in secondary prevention behaviors (SPBs). SPBs are evidence-based approaches that people engaged in either to detect disease early or to intervene promptly to control disease (Cohen, Chavez, & Chehimi, 2007).
In the TCSB, there are two different types of variables that have an impact on care-seeking behavior: psychosocial variables and external conditions. The psychosocial variables are affect, utility beliefs, normative influences (norms), and habits. Affect refers to feelings related to SPBs, such as anxiety about a screening process. Utility beliefs refer to values and probabilities of experiencing worthwhile outcomes from particular SPBs. Norms refer to perceived social expectations such as either peers’ or professionals’ views regarding SPBs. Habits refer to how individuals usually engage in similar behaviors such as having annual exams. The second type of variable is external conditions, which refers to factors typically outside of individuals’ control that are influenced by institutional or public policies (Lauver, 1992; Lauver, Settersten, Kane, & Henriques, 2003). This variable has been operationalized as financial affordability, geographic accessibility, and acceptability of staff to patients (Facione & Katapodi, 2000; Lauver et al., 2003). See Table 1 for a summary of these concepts and their definitions.

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