Substance Abuse

II. Nursing Problem Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to provide students with the opportunity to analyze concepts or variables of interest within the context of a problem, in Nursing, using published research studies from peer-reviewed journals. Analysis of health and disease outcomes will be accomplished by examining each research article. Students will analyze each research study for research methods and analyses, in order to better understand the role of the advanced practice nurse in the evaluation of research, in order to seek knowledge for evidence based practice.

The following is a procedure you should follow for this paper.

Prior to our library search class, students should:

1. A. Select two concepts or variables pertaining to a problem. This could be a problem you have encountered in your practice setting, one you have heard about or one that you are interested in, or, a problem based on Healthy People 2020, World Health Organization, or other National/International Health Agendas. Choose a problem in Nursing. Choose a problem which best fits under one of the following themes from the National Institute of Nursing Research.

B. The National Institute of Nursing Research has 4 major themes and 2 cross-over ones for priorities in Nursing Research so you may want to choose a problem which fits under one of them. They include: 1. Symptom Science: Promoting personalized health strategies (some examples are: chronic illness and adverse symptoms such as symptoms resulting in pain, fatigue, disordered sleep or strategies to treat and prevent symptoms of illness across diverse populations and settings; 2.Wellness:promoting health and preventing illness (such as physical, behavioral and environmental causes of illness, behaviors that lead to a healthy lifestyle and choices to develop evidenced-based interventions to promote illness); 3.Self-Management: Improving quality of life for individuals with chronic illness (some examples are: strategies to help individuals with chronic conditions and their caregivers to create a better understanding of these strategies for management of their illness); 4. End of Life and Palliative Care: The science of compassion (some examples are: science to manage the symptoms of life limiting conditions and planning for end-of-life decisions); 5.Promoting Innovation: Technology to improve health (some examples are: science in promoting innovations) and, 6. Innovative Strategies for Research Careers.

One example selected might be: the effects of the use of bright light on patient?s sleep. There are many issues which can be chosen so think about one which best suits your own clinical area of expertise. Think about choosing some problem in patient care.

2. Search the literature by using either key words or concepts (depending on the search engine used) from the problem and locate 10 research, peer-reviewed studies (less than 10 years old- preferably 5 years or less) in Nursing which address these two concepts or variables.

3. Using 5 quantitative, peer-reviewed research articles (out of the 10 selected from the literature search) in Nursing, identify and describe elements of the research process within each of these articles. These elements include:

a. research problem and purpose, or hypotheses if any,

b. literature review,

c. design,

d. sampling strategies,

e. descriptive and/or inferential statistical analyses for the major study concepts or variables (only choose those statistics which fit your major study concepts or variables-do not choose both)

f. summary, conclusions and limitations to the study

(Hint: Be sure to write these steps out, avoiding the use of an outline or exact words from the research article. Avoid the use of a table. Do not take these steps from the abstract but rather select them from the study, using your own words.)

4. Explain the statistical results (descriptive or inferential- depending on what you used above) in your own words.

5. Provide a summary of the Research-based interventions from all of your research studies related to your identified Practice-based Nursing Problem.

substance abuse

Adolescent Substance Use – Supporting documentation
This document will help to guide you through the “Substance Use” PBL activity.

1) In week beginning 5th October, you will be reviewing an article which introduces you to the topic. This article (Stone et al., 2012) covers both risk and protective factors. This should help you to locate other relevant articles in the area; it should also give you a skeleton to help you understand other research you read. It is NOT the only source of information you need to read on this topic. You should also use this session to decide which substance you are planning to focus on and to generate ideas about risk factors.
Assessment – 500 words

Template for 500 word piece; expanded to show how this fits with the first PBL problem.

Title – State your chosen substance and risk/protective factors here
(1) Definition of XX
Provide the following (in this order): a definition of XX; a reference or references to its creators; a brief description of the relevance of XX. Write only in the third person and do not use quotations. You have a strict word limit of no more than 100 words (excluding references). Value: 20 points.
– In this section, I would like you to clarify whether you are focussed on substances in general or a particular substance (and why); explain what your risk factors are or what your protective factors are and why they have been chosen. You need to include references.

(2) References for 2 papers supporting XX
These references MUST be written in APA or Harvard format. Value: 10 points.
– This section needs to include references to two papers which show that your chosen risk factors DO contribute to substance misuse. You JUST include the references – in APA format. No discussion about the references – that is in Section 4!

(3) References for 2 papers critical of XX
These references MUST be written in APA or Harvard format. Value: 10 points.
– This section needs to include references two papers which EITHER show that your risk factor DOES NOT contribute to substance misuse OR which shows that there is a different factor which PROTECTS a young person from substance misuse. Either approach is acceptable. Again just include the references in APA format. No discussion – still in section 4!

(4) Conclusions
What conclusions can be drawn about XX? Critically discuss the subject using the references you have used in answers (2) and (3), plus further reading (include references to these additional readings in APA/Harvard format at the end of your assignment). In the final section/paragraph, state an overall conclusion. Write only in the third person and do not use quotations. You have a strict word limit of no more than 300 words (excluding references). Value: 40 points.
– Here you are discussing the papers listed above but you can include additional sources; and at the end of this I should know how strong a contributor your risk/protective factors are to substance use. And I hope it goes without saying – but these should be papers, not textbooks, newspaper articles or internet sites (if you access a peer reviewed journal article online, this is a journal article so is OK, but a blog or non-peer reviewed internet page is an “internet site”).

(5) Personal reflection
What are the main skills that you have learned or extended during this task? How will you improve further in the next task? You may write in the first person. You have a strict word limit of no more than 50 words. Value: 20 points.

substance abuse

Adolescent Substance Use – Supporting documentation
This document will help to guide you through the “Substance Use” PBL activity.

1) In week beginning 5th October, you will be reviewing an article which introduces you to the topic. This article (Stone et al., 2012) covers both risk and protective factors. This should help you to locate other relevant articles in the area; it should also give you a skeleton to help you understand other research you read. It is NOT the only source of information you need to read on this topic. You should also use this session to decide which substance you are planning to focus on and to generate ideas about risk factors.
Assessment – 500 words

Template for 500 word piece; expanded to show how this fits with the first PBL problem.

Title – State your chosen substance and risk/protective factors here
(1) Definition of XX
Provide the following (in this order): a definition of XX; a reference or references to its creators; a brief description of the relevance of XX. Write only in the third person and do not use quotations. You have a strict word limit of no more than 100 words (excluding references). Value: 20 points.
– In this section, I would like you to clarify whether you are focussed on substances in general or a particular substance (and why); explain what your risk factors are or what your protective factors are and why they have been chosen. You need to include references.

(2) References for 2 papers supporting XX
These references MUST be written in APA or Harvard format. Value: 10 points.
– This section needs to include references to two papers which show that your chosen risk factors DO contribute to substance misuse. You JUST include the references – in APA format. No discussion about the references – that is in Section 4!

(3) References for 2 papers critical of XX
These references MUST be written in APA or Harvard format. Value: 10 points.
– This section needs to include references two papers which EITHER show that your risk factor DOES NOT contribute to substance misuse OR which shows that there is a different factor which PROTECTS a young person from substance misuse. Either approach is acceptable. Again just include the references in APA format. No discussion – still in section 4!

(4) Conclusions
What conclusions can be drawn about XX? Critically discuss the subject using the references you have used in answers (2) and (3), plus further reading (include references to these additional readings in APA/Harvard format at the end of your assignment). In the final section/paragraph, state an overall conclusion. Write only in the third person and do not use quotations. You have a strict word limit of no more than 300 words (excluding references). Value: 40 points.
– Here you are discussing the papers listed above but you can include additional sources; and at the end of this I should know how strong a contributor your risk/protective factors are to substance use. And I hope it goes without saying – but these should be papers, not textbooks, newspaper articles or internet sites (if you access a peer reviewed journal article online, this is a journal article so is OK, but a blog or non-peer reviewed internet page is an “internet site”).

(5) Personal reflection
What are the main skills that you have learned or extended during this task? How will you improve further in the next task? You may write in the first person. You have a strict word limit of no more than 50 words. Value: 20 points.