In the modern world, people become more anxious about their health. They study the information on health issues due to the internet. It is a good tendency, for the knowledge of the illnesses’ symptoms and timely visit to the doctor on the necessary first aid are likely to favor the patient’s recovery. Still, some groups of people are less informed concerning certain health problems, often underestimating the possible risks. The investigations prove that when it comes to stroke education, the African American women are the little-informed category. The article under analysis “Stroke Education Needs of African American Women” analyses the mentioned above problem.
The Questions to Answer
The research on the stroke education of African American women had two questions to answer. The first one was formulated to reveal the “perceptions of African American women about the causes, seriousness, and consequences of stroke” (Beal, 2014). The second one dealt with the ways of acquiring the information on health outside the medical institutions by African American women.
The Research Design
The research is an example of the exploratory-descriptive qualitative study. This kind of design is suitable when the research’s task is to study the ideas of the group under analysis concerning the problem (Writing a Critique Review, 2014, para.17). This design of the research anticipates the personal experience of the participants. Thus, their cultural and national background should also be considered, as it preconditions the experience. The exploratory-descriptive study gives the opportunity to consider all the mentioned factors.
The Sample
The research sample consisted of 48 African American women aged 35 and more, with the average age of 68.6. This age range was selected because of the higher possibility of stroke with this group compared to the other categories. The sample included women with a different background. There were married and widowed, with a degree or uneducated representatives. The places for the study were four churches.
The Data Collection Methods
The organizational part of the research was conducted by the co-investigator, an African American herself. She arranged the research based on the four churches attended by African American women and coordinated it. The research data were collected from 6 groups of women, each including from 6 to 10 women. The participants were suggested by the interview guide with the questions to answer. The received information was recorded and then transcribed. The women were to tell about themselves and to share the sources of receiving information about health. They were also asked about the things they do to preserve health. One more block of questions was dedicated to information on stroke; in fact, it was supposed to assess the level of women’s education regarding stroke. After the analysis was over, the meetings were organized with some of the participants to clarify their responses.
The Study Limitations
Like every research, the study of African American women’s stroke education has certain limitations. It appears important to mention them in the research results’ presentation to allow the further researchers evaluate the relevance of the collected data. With this study, the limitations are as follows. Firstly, the participants were taken from only two urban areas and the Black Churches; thus the results may be different with another territory. Secondly, the research did not consider the economic aspect which may also have the influence. Besides, the research studied the personal attitudes, and this information may not be applicable to other people (Beal, 2014)
The Research Findings
The obtained results revealed the situation with stroke education. It appeared that African American women knew little about stroke. They were more informed about cancer for example and could realize its danger. As for stroke, they proved to be not enough informed about its symptoms and causes. The reason for this fact is that there was no information available on the problem. Nevertheless, they were conscious of the fact that African Americans are in the risk group of having a stroke. Moreover, they realized that hypertension was a risk factor too, together with everyday stresses. Besides, breast cancer was considered more dangerous that stroke by some participants. This is partial because cancer is not always diagnosed at an early stage when the heart problems are easier to reveal. The positive result of the research is that its participants were concerned about their health. Most of them referred to the internet to learn about health issues.
Summarizing, it should be said that the research under analysis reveals the problem of poor provision of information concerning some health problems. The research itself is properly designed, has clearly set questions and property selected methodology. The sample may be not very big, but it is relevant for the area it comes from. The received data should be necessarily introduced into practice. They proved the essentiality of information supply to the people, and especially stroke education. Providing the population with enough information on the most probable health problems and the ways to manage the first symptoms will help to reduce the mortality and increase the level of illness prevention.
References
Beal, C.C. (2014). Stroke Education Needs for African American Women. Public Health Nursing, 32(10), 24-33.
University of Calgary. (2014). Writing a Critique Review of a Research Article. Web.