For this section of your research proposal assignment, you will carefully design a plan for analyzing your quantitative data. Explain in detail how you will go about analyzing your data. Be sure to:
Include definitions of all variables
Identify your null hypothesis and research hypothesis
Explain what results you are looking for in your quantitative study (how will you know if you will accept or reject your null and research hypothesis?)
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Effective Strategies to Maintain Emotional Health for Nurses
Sampling
Since the research proposal focuses on the emotional health of nurses, the study’s
participants will consist of nurses. The research will include a sampling size of 50 -100 nurses.
Although nurses of all ages are welcome to participate, I would want a variety of nurses between
ages 23 and 65 years. As mentioned, the sample size will be 50-100 nurses. This sample size is
appropriate for the study because it is a better representative of the nursing population. As a good
representation of the nursing population, the large sample size will deliver more accurate results,
according to Andrade (2020). This is because it will contribute to lower standards of deviation
and smaller margins of error. Additionally, because I will be able to manage the risk of reporting
false positive/negative results, the sample size is appropriate for the study. The precision of the
results will be higher with a larger sample size. In addition, this sample size is acceptable for the
study because it will enable me to collect more data, which I may utilize to address the research
questions.
Reliability
A structured questionnaire will be utilized to collect information about the participants.
The questionnaire will gather demographic data, nurse burnout, work characteristics, and
community resources for nurses. Among the demographic information to be gathered are gender,
educational degree, age, and daily hours of working and sleeping time. When it comes to nurse
burnout, various elements will be evaluated including patient safety, comfort/confidence, job
retention, and professional satisfaction. The work characteristics that will be included in the
questionnaire include years of experience as a nurse, working hours, salary, working shifts, and
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practice setting. Since the research will attempt to obtain information on mental health support
and resources for nurses, the questionnaire will also cover elements related to community
resources such as leadership, communication, and organizational support and resources.
To collect essential information, respondents will be asked to recall their first year of
employment as a nurse when responding to the questionnaire. My data collection process will be
reliable and consistent as it will involve several steps. One of these steps is ensuring voluntary
consent in answering the survey questions. Assuring the participants that their information will
be kept private and that neither their data nor email addresses will be used to link them to any
identifying information is the second step to maintaining consistency in the data collection
process. With that assurance, participants will be willing to share accurate information and
answer the questions truthfully, improving the reliability of the data.To maintain consistency, I
will also inform the respondents of their right to participate in the study before they complete the
questionnaire. The questionnaires will be sent to participants with enough time to complete them,
and after they have, I will assemble them and statistically analyze the data.
The measurement tool that will be employed in this research is the occupational burnout
inventory (OBI). OBI is a survey instrument utilized to assess burnout and it covers two essential
areas including exhaustion aspects such as cognitive and physical elements as well as
disengagement from work aspects such as work content or negative attitudes (Edú-Valsania et
al., 2022). In this research, OBI will be utilized to assess the perception of participants of burnout
during the past month. The participants will be asked to respond to respond by utilizing a 5-point
Likert-type and the scale will involve 4 aspects. These aspects are work-related burnout, personal
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burnout, over-commitment, and patient-related burnout. For each subscale, the values will range
from 0-100 with a score of at least 60 designated as high burnout.
My measurement tool is reliable it has been utilized in various studies providing accurate
measures of each burnout dimension. The burnout dimensions addressed by OBI have been
confirmed in various studies involving nurses. For instance, Nobre et al. (2019) assessed burnout
levels among nurses operating in emergency services by utilizing OBI to assess the degree of
psychological and physical exhaustion experienced by nurses at a personal level and in relation
to their work. Using this tool, the researchers in this study managed to accurately measure
burnout at all levels. Hence, the instrument is reliable.
Validity
I will ensure I have a valid sample size by first considering the sample size variables. I
will do so by establishing a procedure to determine which nurse fits and doesn’t fit my
population size. As the research is based on the emotional health management of nurses, the
answers are personal and will most likely differ from each other as everyone has different
stressors. However, I will be looking for a pattern in the responses provided to get an idea of
what causes burnout in nursing and how nurses manage their emotional well being. I will
thoroughly go over each response and analyze them to see their similarities and differences.
Since I am a nurse myself who has experienced the feeling of burnout, I will have a better
understanding of the responses and interpret them properly. I will also pay close attention to the
community resources listed by the participants for nurses emotional well being and research
what each resource offers. By gathering this data, I will be able to identify strategies in
maintaining emotional health for nurses.
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References
Andrade, C. (2020). Sample size and its importance in research. Indian journal of psychological
medicine, 42(1), 102-103. https://doi.org/10.4103%2FIJPSYM.IJPSYM_504_19
Edú-Valsania, S., Laguía, A., & Moriano, J. A. (2022). Burnout: A review of theory and
measurement. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(3),
1780. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031780
Nobre, D. F. R., Rabiais, I. C. M., Ribeiro, P. C. P. S. V., & Seabra, P. R. C. (2019). Burnout
assessment in nurses from a general emergency service. Revista brasileira de
enfermagem, 72, 1457-1463. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2017-0870
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Effective Strategies to Maintain Emotional Health for Nurses
Name
Institution
Course
Instructor
Date
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Effective Strategies to Maintain Emotional Health for Nurses
Ethical Considerations
To ensure the research is conducted ethically, I will first attain its approval from the Los
Angeles ethics research committee. In doing so, I will minimize the potential conflict of interests
and ensure the research is ethically acceptable before it commences. Also, to guarantee the
research is ethical, all the participants will be assured of their discretion and anonymity. Kang
and Hwang (2023) outline that for research to be ethical, the privacy of the participants must be
respected and their private information kept confidential. Therefore, from the time the
participants are approached for probable participation, even if they refuse to be included in the
research, to the end of the research, they will be treated with respect for their participation. Apart
from keeping their private information secure, this research will achieve this respect by
respecting their freedom to pull out from the research without any penalties, notifying them of
new information obtained during the research, which has the potential to alter their evaluation of
benefits and dangers of participation, and they will be informed of lessons learned from the
research. In addition to that, all the participants will be required to sign an informed consent
statement before being included in the study. This is essential for the research because, according
to Kadam (2017), the informed consent process will confirm that the participants are wellinformed about the research’s methods, purpose, benefits, and risks. With that information, they
will make a voluntary choice on whether to take participate.
Recruitment Process
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The participants will be recruited purposefully from medical facilities within the Los
Angeles area. Purposive sampling provides a researcher with the opportunity to identify
individuals or communities best suited to provide relevant information to achieve the research’s
objectives (Palinkas et al., 2015). As the study will involve only nurses, this recruitment
technique will enable the selection of a homogenous sample that shares specific features such as
job experiences and work culture. Using this strategy, I will contact various hospital
administrators to request permission to access their nurses. Apart from requesting permission to
access nurses at various medical facilities, the recruitment process will remain ethical by
obtaining written consent from every nurse who decides to be included in the research. No
incentives will be provided to those who choose to participate.
Data and Data Collection Techniques
The quantitative data that I will collect for the research will include the age of
participants, work experience, average sleeping hours, the duration of each working shift, the
number of patients each nurse takes care of, and monthly salary. I will collect this data through
questionnaires and interviews. Each participant will be expected to complete a questionnaire that
will cover major aspects of the research including work experiences as a nurse. After completing
the questionnaire, each participant will undergo a 5-min interview to provide insight on patient
safety, job retention, practice setting, and professional satisfaction.
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References
Kadam, R. A. (2017). Informed consent process: a step further towards making it
meaningful! Perspectives in clinical research, 8(3), 107. https://doi.org/
10.4103%2Fpicr.PICR_147_16
Kang, E., & Hwang, H. J. (2023). The importance of anonymity and confidentiality for
conducting survey research. ResearchGate, 4(1), 1-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.15722/
jrpe.4.1.202303.1
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015).
Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method
implementation research. Administration and policy in mental health and mental health
services research, 42, 533-544. https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10488-013-0528-y
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INFORMED CONSENT
TITLE OF STUDY
Effective Strategies to Maintain Emotional Health for Nurses
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
[Name]
[Department]
[Address]
[Phone]
[Email]
PURPOSE OF STUDY
You are being requested to take part in research that will involve understanding the work
experiences of nurses to gain insight into how to develop effective strategies to improve their
emotional health. Before you make a decision to be included in this research, you must
comprehend the reason why it is being carried out and what it will encompass. Please read and
analyze the following information cautiously. Please contact the principal investigator/researcher
for any queries that need clarification or if you require more information.
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The research aims to understand the emotional well-being of nurses to establish effective
strategies to improve emotional health.
ELIGIBILITY
•
One must be a nurse within the Los Angeles area with at least 5 years of work experience
in the nursing field.
•
One must provide national certification and proof of employment.
•
The required age of participation is between 23 and 65 years.
RISKS
There are no risks or dangers involved in participating in this research. Participation is not
mandatory. As a result, you are not expected to complete the questionnaire if you wish not to and
you can pull out from participation at any time without any penalties.
BENEFITS
•
The research will help expand our knowledge base on the work experiences of nurses.
•
The research will provide useful insights on how to maintain the emotional health of
nurses, improving nurse retention.
•
The research will provide us with an opportunity to suggest ways to improve the wellbeing of nurses in various clinical settings, minimizing nurse burnout.
CONFIDENTIALITY
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Your questionnaire and interview responses associated with this research will be kept secure and
no identifying information will be revealed or printed. To guarantee this, please do not include
any identifying/private information on your questionnaires. For this research, privacy will be
respected and anonymity ensured.
After the process of data gathering is completed, all confidential data will be kept in a secure
location that can only be accessed by the principal investigator.
CONTACT INFORMATION
In case of any questions regarding this research, you may contact the principal investigator
whose contact details are provided on the first page. If you have any queries about your
participation rights, or if problems occur that you do not feel you share with the principal
investigator, please contact the Los Angeles ethics research committee.
VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION
Your participation in this research is voluntary. It is up to you to make the decision to be a part of
it. If you decide to be involved, you will be asked to sign a consent form. After signing the
consent form, you will still have the freedom to pull out from the research at any time without
incurring any costs or penalties or providing a reason. If you withdraw from the research before
the data-gathering process is completed, your data will be destroyed or given back to you.
CONSENT
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I have read and understand the provided information and have had the chance to ask queries. I
recognize that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to pull out at any time, without
incurring any costs, penalties, or giving a reason. I understand that I will sign a consent form. I
voluntarily agree to be included in the research.
Participant’s signature ______________________________ Date __________
Investigator’s signature _____________________________ Date __________
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Effective Strategies to Maintain Emotional Health for Nurses
Student’s First Name, Middle Initial(s), Last Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Number and Name
Instructor’s Name and Title
Due Date
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Effective Strategies to Maintain Emotional Health for Nurses
Problem Statement
The high rate of nurses leaving bedside nursing due to mental health issues poses a
significant challenge that needs to be addressed urgently. Psychological disorders like
exhaustion, empathy exhaustion, and cognitive weariness do not solely impact nurses’ overall
health. Additionally, they have negative outcomes for patient health and healthcare providers.
The challenging aspect in the field of nursing, together with insufficient assistance
mechanisms and restricted availability of mental health services, has caused a severe
predicament that not only disturbs the accessibility of proficient nursing practitioners
(Motaung, 2018). Additionally, it undermines the standard and security of healthcare
provision. Decreasing the number of nurses leaving their occupations due to mental health
concerns is imperative. This can be achieved by applying efficient tactics to encourage
nurses’ emotional wellness, which can increase nurse turnover.
Research Questions
1. What are the most common factors contributing to mental health issues among
nurses?
2. What strategies and interventions can be implemented to promote and maintain
emotional well-being among nurses?
3. How can healthcare facilities provide adequate mental health support and resources
for nurses?
4. What are the barriers and challenges in implementing effective strategies to maintain
emotional health for nurses?
Explanation of Significance to Nursing
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The topic selected for research is highly significant within the nursing field. Nurses
have a vital role in delivering excellent patient care. However, they frequently encounter
elevated stress levels, emotional strain, and burnout. Nurses’ mental wellness and satisfaction
directly influence their capacity to provide exceptional care and maintain job satisfaction
(Capone et al., 2022). This research aims to identify successful methods for preserving the
emotional well-being of nurses, which could potentially decrease attrition rates, increase
employee retention, and enhance overall job satisfaction. Ultimately, this research aims to
ensure the well-being of nurses and create a supportive environment for them, enabling them
to provide the best care to patients. The findings also highlight the need for comprehensive
mental health resources in healthcare facilities, highlighting shortcomings.
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References
Capone, V., Borrelli, R., Marino, L., & Schettino, G. (2022). Mental well-being and job
satisfaction of hospital physicians during COVID-19: Relationships with efficacy
beliefs, organizational support, and organizational non-technical skills. International
Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6), 3734.
Motaung, R. P. (2018). Exploring nursing presence as an approach to prevent relapse of
discharged mental health care users (Doctoral dissertation, North-West University).