Review of a Medical Study

Excerpts from the Paper

Review of a Medical Study
The following questions pertain to: McMillan, S. C., & Small, B. J. (2007). Using the COPE intervention for family caregivers to improve symptoms of hospice homecare patients. Oncology Nursing Forum, 34(2), 313-21.
Describe the data collection methodology. What instruments were used?
A numeric rating scale was used to measure the outcomes of the COPE training strategy used by the authors to gauge varying levels of distress felt by test subjects. Also, dyspnea intensity scale was used to gauge the levels of disease rates during the training process. The Constipation Assessment Scale was also used to gauge how trainees used COPE with this type of ailment. The Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS) was used to...

.....methodology in which qualitative researchers helped to identity certain word correlations between preexisting studies and the interviews used by the researchers. However, there is no evidence of a quantitative formula or processes in which they were analyzed in the study.
Discuss the use of any figures, graphs and tables. Was the information conveyed in an understandable and meaningful way?
The use of a graph is utilized to define the emotional variables of temporal, situational, and attributive interlocked and overlapping circles of influence in the symptoms of distress. This is one way in which the intermeshing of emotional variables were defined effectively in the way the researchers monitored interviews in relation to distress symptoms.