Introduction
The present study focuses on the provision of educational services to congestive heart failure patients and its effects on this population’s readmission rates. When conducting a study, it is essential to identify variables properly. Extraneous variables should also be detected and control methods outlined (Grove, Gray, & Burns, 2014). It is also essential to consider the procedures to be used in detail. This paper includes a brief description of these areas.
Extraneous Variables
The present research is associated with the provision of educational services in the clinical and patients’ home settings. This approach can result in the occurrence of situational variables, especially when it comes to patients who will receive services at home. The given information and training methods used should be equal for all settings (Grove et al., 2014). When analyzing findings, it is essential to distinguish between patients who received the services at home and those who were trained in the clinical setting. Various peculiarities of the participants can also have a significant impact on results as their prior lifestyles, and socioeconomic statuses can affect the outcomes of the program (Brown, 2013). Therefore, it can be beneficial to include some data concerning previous lifestyles and habits into the survey.
Instruments
The major instruments that will be used to address the research questions will be questionnaires. The validity of this tool can be checked through the accurate analysis of each question in the questionnaire as to its adherence to the research goals. As far as the reliability of this instrument is concerned, it is possible to focus on test-retest reliability (Brown, 2013). The present study is longitudinal, so this measurement can be used. Apart from participants-completed tools, it is necessary to evaluate some healthcare-related outcomes. The researcher will analyze the readmission rates of the participants (if any) and will also note the participants’ blood pressure as a health-related measurement. The data will help evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
Intervention
The intervention will include the provision of educational services in the form of brief lectures and discussions. Nursing professionals will provide certain data concerning prevention methods, appropriate lifestyles, risky behaviors, possible medications, and non-medication-based treatment types, and so forth. The training sessions will take place three times a week, and each session will last for 30 minutes. As has been mentioned above, the provided information, as well as the methods nurses will use to deliver the training, will be similar to ensure the validity of the study. Some patients will receive training at home, while some participants will be trained in the clinical setting.
Data Collection
As for data collection tools, the questionnaires will be distributed through email, and nurses will also distribute print questionnaires among the participants during the last session of the program. The participants will report on the preferred type of sending the questionnaires back to their nursing trainers. The completed questionnaires can be sent through email, post, given to their nursing during their visit, or brought to their hospitals.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the extraneous variables can be controlled through the use of some standard procedures. The major data collection tool will be questionnaires and some observational procedures carried out by the researchers. The questionnaires will be distributed through email or given during training sessions. The intervention will include training sessions that will last for 30 minutes. The training will be provided three times a week. All the participants will receive similar information, and the same training methods will be used.
References
Brown, S. J. (2013). Evidence-based nursing: The research-practice connection. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Grove, S. K., Gray, J. R., & Burns, N. (2014). Understanding nursing research – e-book: Building an evidence-based practice. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Health Sciences.