Research Design
Since the main problem of the study is the need for improving the quality of relationships between nurses and their patients, the research will be of a qualitative nature. An intervention will be the most suitable for facilitating the study because of the ability to compare pre- and post-interventional outcomes and determine whether the quality of communication increases (Zhang, Cao, & Ahn, 2014). Data will be measured with the help of interviews conducted with a sample of nurses and patients with whom they interact to identify whether a universal communication approach could be applied to most settings and adapt to different needs.
Target Population
The target population of the study will be divided into two groups: patients and nurses. The inclusion criteria for patients are individuals being age 18 and older, being admitted to a care setting for a treatment or surgery, and consenting to participate in the intervention. Patients will be excluded if diagnosed with severe health conditions to avoid any harm. The inclusion criteria for nurses are individuals working in the healthcare sphere for at least three years, showing interest in participating, and exhibiting fluctuating rates of motivation and job satisfaction. Exclusion criteria are unmanageable workloads and working in the profession for less than three years. Participants will be recruited through direct contact in healthcare settings; it is planned to recruit at least 20 patients and 10 nurses. These numbers are manageable to the researcher, especially since no control group will be involved. The intervention will take place in a hospital setting while interviews will be conducted in any settings convenient for participants. The key support will come from a hospital’s nursing manager who can help with contacting nurses.
Protecting Personal Information
Participants’ identity will be protected by coding – each of them will be assigned a number to be used in research to avoid using personal information. All data will be stored on an external hard drive protected by a password to prevent unwanted disclosure. All participants will be asked to sign a consent form to allow using their information for research purposes, and all of them will be presented with a pamphlet-brief that explains the basic aspects of the study.
Data Analysis
In terms of data analysis, content and thematic analysis of interviews with participants will be conducted to identify key themes and trends that respondents have in common (Vaismoradi, Turunen, & Bondas, 2013). A statistician is not needed to conduct content analysis; it is likely that the researcher will be able to complete it since the number of participants will be approximately thirty. In case of any difficulties, the researcher will contact a specialist to aid in data analysis.
Timeline of the Study
The project will be divided into several stages to make it structured and avoid distractions that may take away from the quality of an intervention and study results. It is expected that the entire project will take around three months. The first month will be dedicated to collecting materials, selecting participants, and going over any preliminary procedures. The intervention itself will take two weeks and two more weeks will be dedicated to conducting interviews with participants. The last month will be associated with the analysis of data, formulating findings, and making conclusions.
References
Vaismoradi, M., Turunen, H., & Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing and Health Sciences, 15, 398-405.
Zhang, S., Cao, J., & Ahn, C. (2014). A GEE approach to determine sample size for pre- and post-intervention experiments with dropout. Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, 69, 10-24.