Assessment of Smoking Cessation Perception and Knowledge among Healthcare Professionals and Disadvantaged People: A Qualitative Study

Assignment 2 – Mock ethics proposal
Student number:
Project title: Assessment of smoking cessation perception and knowledge
among healthcare professionals and disadvantaged people: A qualitative study.
1. Research design and methodology
1.a. Please provide a short summary of the research in plain
English
Smoking cessation rates are usually low in people with low socioeconomic class as
compared to the people with high socioeconomic class. Health behaviour of these people is
the primary reason for increased smoking prevalence and reduced smoking cessation is
people with low socioeconomic status or disadvantaged people. Smoking is attributable to
approximately 50-60 % deaths in disadvantaged people. Reduced smoking cessation mainly
occur due increased uptake and reduced quitting of the smoking. It is necessary to educate
disadvantaged people about importance of smoking cessation. It is necessary to educate
disadvantaged people about the current policies, programmes and interventions for quitting
smoking Wilson, Guillaumier, George, Denham, & Bonevski, 2017). Smoking cessation can
be achieved among disadvantaged people through improving social awareness about it.
1.b. Please provide a justification for your research based on a
literature review (including references for citations).
Bryant, Bonevski, Paul, O'Brien, & Oakes (2010) carried out a qualitative study to
asses and establish the role of community welfare organisations to support smoking quitting
among disadvantaged people. Aim of this qualitative study was to identify perception of
managers, staff members and client about smoking quitting. In addition to this, this research
identified perception of these stakeholders about the attitude of stakeholders, organisational
barriers and diverse methods to support smoking cessation. In this study, managers and staff
members reported that they are aware of smoking cessation strategies which can improve
well-being of the people. Healthcare professionals mentioned that they are willing to provide
support and advice to people. Leppanen, Ekblad, & Tomson, (2019) carried out qualitative
study about tobacco cessation which involve barriers and facilitators for healthcare
professionals. Participants of this study reported that smokers exhibited positive inclination
towards tobacco cessation programme (TCP) through either completely quitting smoking or
reducing frequency of smoking. Participants reported that counselling is more efficient in
comparison to the pamphlets or oral advice for smoking quitting. Participants gave more
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emphasis on motivational interviewing because it is more effective strategy for smoking
cessation. In addition to this, participants stated that waiting room advertisement and
implementation of policies and guidelines for smoking cessation proved beneficial in
smoking cessation. Participants mentioned that organisational support, positive attitude of
service providers and abundant availability of resources are beneficial in implementation of
smoking cessation programme. Bonevski, Bryant, & Paul, (2011) conducted qualitative in-
depth interview-based study which explored financial aspects of disadvantaged people in
relation to smoking cessation. Participants reported robust correlation among financial
resources and smoking cessation. Participants mentioned that inadequate financial resources
are the stimulus for smoking quitting. It was demonstrated that Nicotine replacement therapy
(NRT) is the most suitable strategy for smoking cessation. Though, disadvantaged people
can not avail NRT. Brunette et al. (2015) formulated and implemented easy-to-use, web-
based and motivational decision support for smoking cessation. It was found that most of the
participants are aware of ill effects of smoking. Participants reported that they are satisfied
with support system because they rated information provided on the support system either
good or excellent. Web based motivational support system prompted participants to follow
various smoking cessation treatments like NRT, counselling and evidence-based cessation
treatment.
From the literature, it is evident that perception, opinion and knowledge of healthcare
providers and smokers are important aspects for smoking cessation programme
implementation.
1.c. Please describe the research approach and methods
Research question:
What are the different actions should be initiated to augment engagement and
involvement of disadvantaged people in Australia in smoking cessation?
Aim : To improve engagement of disadvantaged population in smoking cessation
through healthcare professionals.
Objectives of the study are : 1) to understand perceptions of managers and staff
members of healthcare organisation to implement smoking cessation, 2) to recognize their
previous experience in implementing smoking cessation programme, 3) knowledge about
facilitators and barriers of healthcare professionals about smoking cessation programme
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implementation, and 4) to understand knowledge of disadvantaged people about ill effects of
smoking.
Methods :
Methodology:
This research will be conducted through qualitative study. In this study perceptions of
healthcare workers related to smoking cessation need to be explored; hence, it can be
considered as exploratory study. Qualitative study is the most suitable study for exploratory
study. Andrew, (2016) stated that qualitative research is most suitable to understand
perceptions, opinions and attitude. This study will also explore perceptions, opinions and
attitudes of healthcare workers (Andrew, 2016).
Research design:
This qualitative study will be conducted using descriptive study design. Descriptive
research design describes, elucidate and authenticate the results (Wolgemuth, 2016). This
study will describe, explain and validate the perceptions, opinions and attitudes of healthcare
workers and disadvantaged people related to smoking cessation. This descriptive qualitative
research study will be conducted through conducting interviews. Semi-structured interviews
will be conducted to collect data from healthcare professionals and disadvantaged people.
Semi-structured interviews can be considered as most appropriate study design for this study
because it gives flexibility for participants while demonstrating their perception, opinion and
attitude. Questionnaire for semi-structured interview will be prepared after following
relevant literature and after discussion with researchers and experts in the relevant field.
Additionally, research questions will be modified according to previous research conducted
in the university hospital and it will be ensured that questions will be according to the needs
and requirements of the research setting. Semi-structured interview provide opportunity for
the interviewer to ask follow-up questions to explore more information (Wolgemuth, 2016).
Materials:
Main themes for this research will be perception, opinion and attitude of healthcare
professionals and disadvantaged people about smoking cessation, experience of
disadvantaged people about smoking cessation. These main themes will be based on
following five themes:
1 ) Knowledge of healthcare professionals and disadvantaged people about smoking
cessation : Questions assessing knowledge of healthcare professionals and disadvantaged
people about smoking cessation will be incorporated. Response of participants will be
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recorded on five-point Likert scale (1 - Strongly disagree, 2 – Disagree, 3 - Neither agree nor
disagree, 4 - Agree and 5 -Strongly agree). Likert scale is most widely used and validated
psychometric scale beneficial for interview-based research. Likert scale assess agreement or
disagreement of participants in relation to particular question (Forman, Harris, Lorencatto,
McEwen, & Duaso, 2017).
2 ) Role of healthcare professionals in smoking cessation : Under this theme,
questions also will be assessed depends on 5-point Likert scale. In this questions will be
based on roles and responsibilities of healthcare professionals for implementing smoking
cessation programme in the disadvantaged people. Questions related to smoking cessation
programme delivery and psychological support to disadvantaged people will also be
incorporated (Forman, Harris, Lorencatto, McEwen, & Duaso, 2017; Szatkowski &
Aveyard, 2016).
3 ) Education and training : Education and training associated questions will be
incorporated. Additionally, questions related previous experience in smoking cessation
programme will be incorporated under this this theme (Forman, Harris, Lorencatto,
McEwen, & Duaso, 2017).
4 ) Awareness of smoking cessation among disadvantaged people : Education and
counselling received by healthcare managers and staff related to the smoking cessation
( Szatkowski & Aveyard, 2016; Forman, Harris, Lorencatto, McEwen, & Duaso, 2017).
5 ) Under this theme demographic data of participants will be collected.
Tool development:
Research tool will be developed through multiple steps for determining themes of
interview questions. Specific questions will be developed with respect to the scale specificity
(Collins and Stockton, 2018).
Interviews: Interviews will be conducted separately for healthcare managers, staff
members and disadvantaged people. Interviews for all the participants will be conducted by
the one researcher. Researcher will not be familiar to the healthcare professionals and
disadvantaged people. It can eliminate bias during data collection because chances of
biasness are more attributable to known interviewer to participants (Biener & Hargraves,
2015). Duration of interview will be approximately 60 minutes and audio recording of
interviews will be carried out for future refence.
Ethical consideration:
Ethical consideration in qualitative research is important aspect because it helps in
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maintaining integrity, reliability and validity of research. Ethical approval for research
protocol will be taken from the institutional research ethical committee. It will be beneficial
in ensuring all the ethical policies and practices are being followed. All the codes and
policies of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) will be followed for the conduct of the
study. Participants will be encouraged for voluntary participation. Participants will be
allowed to leave the study at any point of time. Informed written consent will be taken form
the participants. Participants will be informed about the purpose, methods, risks and
potential benefits of the research. Information will be provided to the participants in a
manner suitable for each participant. Confidentiality and anonymity of the participants will
be maintained for ensuring ethical standards.
1.d. Please outline how the data will be collected and analysed
Data analysis:
Data collected through interviews will be recorded in the audiotape and this data will
be transcribed verbatim and analysis of transcripts will be carried out. During analysis, data
will be coded which would eliminate bias. Researcher who is not part of the study will be
assigned the task of data coding; hence, it will eliminate bias. Thematic analysis method will
be implemented for data analysis. Thematic analysis is being considered as the most suitable
method for carrying out qualitative analysis; since, it is mainly based on theoretical basis.
Interview questions in this study will be prepared with respect to theoretical assumptions
from the literature. Thematic analysis will be conducted through varied steps such as
improving familiarity to data through transcription, coding the collected data, exploring the
research theme which answer the research question, defining and naming the themes for data
analysis and producing the data (Vaismoradi, Turunen, & Bondas, 2013).
2. Participants and risk
2.a. How will you select, recruit and contact participants?
Participants and sampling strategy:
The purposive maximum sampling method will be used for enrolment of healthcare
professionals and indigenous people. This method is most suitable for participants
recruitment because maximum number of healthcare workers and disadvantaged people can
be enrolled through this sampling approach. This method is considered as the judgemental,
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selective and non-probability method because participant’s enrolment is attributable to
researcher’s judgement. In addition to this, this sampling is most suitable for this research
study because it is dependent on particular traits of the study subjects (Punch, 2013).
Particular characteristics of the healthcare professionals include knowledge, experience and
practice of smoking cessation. Specific characteristics of disadvantaged people include habit
of smoking. Healthcare professionals will be contacted through phone from five different
hospitals. Disadvantaged people will be contacted during their hospital visits.
2.b. How many participants will you recruit and what is the
rationale for this number?
In this study, 35 healthcare professionals and 35 disadvantaged people will be
enrolled. Among healthcare professionals, managers and staff will be 5 and 30 respectively
Senior managers will be educated about the study and these managers will be informed to
educate and motivate staff members and disadvantaged people for participation in the study.
Participants of this study will be provided with consent form; moreover, written brochure
about study will be given to the participants. Written brochure will comprise of all the
information related to the study (Fu et al., 2014). Recruited number of participants can be
considered as the suitable number because it can give expected outcome in qualitative
research. Recruitment of more number of participants would be difficult for single researcher
to conduct interviews.
2.c. What will participants be required to do or agree to have
done to them?
Participants are required to give written consent form accepting all the terms and
conditions of the study. Participants should agree that they understand the process of study.
Participants should agree that they voluntarily participated in the study. Participants should
be agreed to interact with researchers. Participants should be informed about the
consequences of the study (Haas et al., 2015; Fu et al., 2016).
2.d. What are the risks for participants and your strategies for
minimising this risk?
There is possibility of psychological risks to participants those are healthcare
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