Research Goals
The first goal of this study is to explore the experiences and perceptions of nurses who offer psychological care to victims of burns in healthcare institutions. The second goal of the study is to highlight areas within the healthcare sector that require assessment, improvement or complete reforms to improve the quality of psychological care provided to victims of burns. The third goal is to ensure that victims of burns receive quality healthcare services.
Problem and Problem Statement
From the literature review conducted, it is clear that victims of burns should get proper psychological care. However, adequate research has not been carried out to determine the type of care they should be given. This is the main problem that the research would address. The problem statement is that most nurses do not have adequate knowledge of the psychological care they are supposed to provide to victims of burns.
Search Terms for Literature Search
Some of the search terms that would be used in the literature research include victims of burns, perspectives and experiences of nurses, psychological care and healthcare provision to victims of burns (Parahoo 2006).
Significance of the Research
The significance of conducting this research is that provision of psychological care to victims of burns is an area of interest to many healthcare providers. Although some research has been done in the past, in-depth studies have not been carried out to address the issue fully. Many healthcare providers overlook the psychological needs of the victims, but this is a critical area that should not be ignored. Most literature related to injuries caused by burns concentrates on the physical care alone. However, it is evident that victims of burns go through psychological suffering, which requires special attention.
Consequently, this research seeks to examine the current psychological care provided to victims of burns and the views of nurses who handle them. The results of the research would be used to make necessary adjustments to improve the type of psychological care available. This is because some aspects of the care might require reassessment and reshaping to facilitate the recovery process of patients.
Summary of Articles about the Research Area
The first article by Hulbert-Williams et al. seeks to find out whether the level of anxiety of burns victims is higher. The study was conducted by using individuals who had burns and others who had not. After the study, conclusions were made that victims of burns should not only be provided with physical care but also psychological care for them to deal with their conditions (Hulbert-Williams, Bunting, & Mcilroy, 2008). The second article by Greenfield underscores the importance of different people working together to provide psychological care to victims of burns. This requires the individuals to possess adequate psychosocial skills (Greenfield 2010).
Gaps in Related Literature
The area of study under investigation has some gaps that need to be filled. For example, researchers have not conducted enough research on how psychological care should be provided, although there is literature that addresses ways of dealing with victims of burns generally. The research would therefore seek to fill these gaps.
Research Question
What do nurses in health institutions think about the provision of psychological care to victims of burns?
According to the review of literature conducted, the psychological state of burns victims in hospitals should be of great concern to nurses and other healthcare providers. They are supposed to provide maximum care to them to make their recovery process bearable.
Research Approach and Design
The choice of research design is very important in any research since it helps researchers in achieving the desired results. In this research, a descriptive qualitative research design would be used to explore the experiences and perceptions of nurses concerning the psychological care they offer to victims of burns (Parahoo 2006). Qualitative research explains various experiences in a systematic and detailed manner. In addition, it allows researchers to explore the feelings, behaviour, perspectives and experiences of different people comprehensively. The approach applies holistic frameworks to carry out a deeper analysis of complex situations.
Qualitative research is contrasted with quantitative research, which entails the use of numerical data to make important conclusions. This method would not be an appropriate one to gather the data required for this particular study. The descriptive design would ensure that the most important findings of the research are discussed comprehensively, without any bias or distortion. Researchers would be able to find out new meanings, explain existing things, verify occurrences and group information into different categories. As a result, the qualitative descriptive method would be the most suitable approach because it would facilitate specific actions that are mandatory for the study.
Study Variables
In this research, variables would be used as opposed to concepts. Variables change within the course of a research undertaking and are classified into independent and dependent variables. Independent variables are those which change during the data collection period while dependent variables are variables that are tested during research. In this research, nurses would be the dependent variables because the research aims to investigate their perspectives and experiences in offering psychological care to victims of burns. The victims on the other hand would be the independent variables because they keep on changing from time to time (Muhall, 2001).
Target and Accessible Population
The most important group of people that would be targeted by this study is nurses. This is because they deal with victims of burns directly. The study would acquire a purposive sample of nursing staff from different hospitals. A sample would be appropriate because it would provide in-depth information, which would be important for the research.
Apart from the nurses, there are other groups of people such as doctors who would also be accessible during the study. Such groups would provide important information during the study. Some victims of burns would also be accessible during the study.
Sampling Procedure to be Applied in the Research
This research would employ the purposive sampling method. A purposive sample is selected based on certain characteristics of the people involved in the study. This would make it possible for the researcher to collect data from a targeted group easily.
Researchability of the Study Area
Researching this particular study would be easy because there are numerous cases of burns in different hospitals. This implies that getting information from nurses on their experiences and perspectives about the provision of psychological care to victims of burns would not be difficult. The second reason is that healthcare is a critical area of study that affects many people. All groups that would be involved in the study would willingly give valuable information that would be used to make important improvements in the provision of healthcare to victims of burns.
Feasibility of the Study
The proposed study is feasible because it addresses a subject that is critical and different organisations would be willing to support it. Its feasibility is also tied to the fact that it would be possible to gather the data required in the study and make relevant conclusions.
Lessons Learnt from the Research
In preparing this research proposal, I have learnt that it is important to identify the research problem before the actual research begins. This is because a researcher might research an area that would not yield the desired results. I have also learnt that conducting an in-depth literature review and identifying the most appropriate methods to use in carrying out a study is important before the actual research begins.
Challenges of the Study
There are also challenges involved in conducting this research which includes limited financial resources, uncooperative respondents and inaccessibility of some areas.
Conclusion
In this paper, I have discussed how to conduct a study on the experiences and perspectives of nurses who offer psychological care to victims of burns. This is because the psychological aspect of their condition is often ignored. The paper has looked at other areas such as methods to use in carrying out the study, target population, design of the study and possible challenges during the study.
References
Greenfield, E. (2010). The Pivotal Role of Nursing Personnel in Burn Care. Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery Supplement. 43, 94-100.
Hulbert-Williams, N., Bunting, B., & Mcilroy, D. (2008). Anxiety in Recovery from Severe Burn Injury: An Experimental Comparison. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 13(2), 162-167.
Munhall, P. (2001). Nursing research: A qualitative perspective. Sudbury: Jones and Barlett.
Parahoo K. (2006). Nursing Research: Principles, Process and Issues. London: Palgrave Macmillan.