Assignment5#5

Background of the Study

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) usually has a severe negative on physical and psychological health of victims (Johansson et al., Bjuhr & Rönnbäck, 2012). In most cases, TBI victims have reduced capacity and interest in social activities and work. The researchers aimed to explore and implement a new non-pharmacological strategy that could help to improve the condition of those patients, especially because there is no effective therapy for the condition. By finding an effective non-pharmacological strategy, the researchers could then be able to improve the health outcomes of TBI patients, enabling them to regain their capacity for physical activity and interest in social activities as well. This study is significant because it aims to improve the ability of TBI patients to lead better lives, by enabling them to work and regain their independence. More importantly, if the non-pharmacological strategy proves effective, it could save the TBI patients from losing their self-esteem and possibly sinking into depression (Johansson et al., 2012). Comment by Luci Hanus: When there are three to five authors, you can use the term “et al.” in your citations when you have listed all the authors once in the body of the paper. Comment by Luci Hanus: Should be an in-text citation for the rest of the information in this paragraph

TBI causes great suffering to victims as many end up becoming quite irritable, developing emotional instability, becoming more sensitive to stress, losing their ability to concentrate, and experiencing constant headaches that significantly impair their social interactions. Without effective treatment, many TBI victims would suffer for years. The authors have not specifically provided the research questions for this study. It is however possible to deduce that they intended to find the answer as to the effective treatment/therapy that would enable TBI patients to regain their capacity for physical activity, including work, and their ability to interact socially with others by relieving them of the long-term mental fatigue (Johansson et al., 2012). I supposed This writer believes that their research questions were related to the purpose of the study because their focus was clearly on establishing a therapy that could help to manage the long-term mental fatigue associated with the condition. Comment by Luci Hanus: Should be an in-text citation for the information in this paragraph Comment by Luci Hanus: You do not use first person terms in your professional papers. You will use the third person term ‘this writer’ – note wording correction.

Method of Study

In this study, Johansson et al., Bjuhr and Rönnbäck (2012) tested a treatment/therapy with mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). However, they do not expressly point out the benefits and risks for participation in their study. I This writer considers one benefit of participation is the ability to understand how other TBI patients cope with their conditions and the strategies that they use to cope with the various health problems associated with the condition. I This writer considers one risk of participation to be the impact of the study on patients’ emotional stability and capacity to cope with stress. The researchers ensure to obtain the informed consent of all those who participated in the study. They also ensured to seek the approval of the Ethical Review Board, Gothenburg, Sweden, dno. 408-10 before they started their work on this study. It is clear that the subjects participated voluntarily in this study because the researchers recruited them from an advertisement that they published in a local daily newspaper. Comment by Luci Hanus: As stated previously Comment by Luci Hanus: As stated previously Comment by Luci Hanus: As stated previously Comment by Luci Hanus: ???? What is this? Comment by Luci Hanus: Should be an in-text citation for the rest of the information in this paragraph

The authors have not identified and defined the major variables in this study. However, some these variables include fatigue, mental recovery, memory difficulties, sensitivity to noise and light, slowness of thinking, phobias, reduced appetite, and aches and pains, among others. The researchers included 11 participants with TBI and 18 with stroke. All the participants were also well rehabilitated physically and did not have major impairment to their cognitive ability other than the symptom mental fatigue. The researchers then included 15 of the participants for the MBSR programme, which continued for eight weeks, and the remaining 14 participants received no active treatment and only served as controls. The researchers opted for questionnaire for data collection because of its ability to gather information/data in an accurate and consistent manner. The period within which the researchers collected the information was a period of 8 weeks. The researchers used SPSS 16.0 to analyze the data. They also conducted the ANCOVA analysis of covariance to compare the results between the two groups. In addition, they used a paired t-test to take repeated measurements within groups. Other tools that facilitated the statistical analysis include the Mann-Whitney U-test for the self-assessment scales, the Pearson correlation, and the Bonferroni adjustment. The researchers do not discuss how they establish rigor of the process. Comment by Luci Hanus: Should be an in-text citation for the rest of the information in this paragraph

Results of the Study

Results of this study indicate that the researchers were able to achieve statistically significant improvements as far as the primary end-point is concerned, which essentially means improvement in the self-assessment for mental fatigue. There were also improvements in the secondary end-point, which in this case mean the neuropsychological tests (Trail Making Test and Digit Symbol-Coding) (Johansson et al., Bjuhr & Rönnbäck, 2012). I This writer considers these results to be valid, and a proper reflection of reality. Therefore, I have this writer has confidence in those findings. One of the limitations that the researchers express is the limited number of participants. The various tools that the researchers used to present their findings as stated above were quite valid and appropriate and the presentation therefore makes coherent logic. The findings of this study have great implications for nursing practice because they can be applied to a specific area (TBI patients) as well as to general nursing practice to help patients to cope with long-term mental fatigue. The researchers state that there is need to have more participants in future studies. Comment by Luci Hanus: As stated previously Comment by Luci Hanus: As stated previously Comment by Luci Hanus: As stated previously Comment by Luci Hanus: Should be an in-text citation for the rest of the information in this paragraph