Critical Appraisal of a Study on Brief Lifestyle Intervention by Community Nurses

Running head: CRITICAL APPRAISAL
CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Critical appraisal
Rationale for the research
The paper by Harris et al., (2013) aims to evaluate the effect of brief life style
intervention delivered by the community nurses. The title of the paper gives a clear idea of the
topic and the research question. The back ground of the paper is string and has provided a string
rationale of choosing this topic. It has rightfully pointed out the responsibilities and the
accountabilities of nurses in primary health care services and management of chronic diseases.
The background of a study should be written in such a way such that it provides the context of
the study based on which the thesis can be supported or refuted. The background of the study
should also contain the research question and the aims and objectives.
Study design chosen
The research design chosen for this study is quasi- experimental, where the services were
randomly allocated to an early intervention groups and a late intervention group. True
experimental designs might not be feasible as the research can only be carried out in a natural
setting. Since, the variables are tightly controlled and might fail to create a realistic situation, the
external validity of such studies is increased (Watson, 2015). These kinds of studies can be
useful in understanding the general trends (Harris et al., 2016). Nurses has long been found to be
an integral part of primary care services and specific life style interventions like managing
weight, changing the eating patterns, steps to prevent early heart diseases can be given by the
nurses (Sargent, Forrest & Parker, 2012). Hence, quasi- experimental research design could be
used to understand the general trends of the nurses to participate in minor community care
interventions.

2CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Instruments and the measurement procedures
The services were randomly allocated to an early interventions and late interventions
group. A random allocation ensures that the participants can be place in any group, which helps
to ensure that any distinction between the groups are not systematic at the outset of the trial. The
main principle behind random allocation is the avoidance of any kinds of bias in the way in
which the trial is carried out and it limits the effect of the variables (Arcos, del Mar Rueda &
Singh, 2015). There was no control group used in this study. A control group involves elements
that presents the same characteristics as the experimental group (Pithon, 2013). It should be
mentioned, that control is an essential part of the experiment as it allows the elimination of the
variables. The sample was not blinded, hence there remains a chance of observational bias
(Claydon, 2015). The reliability of the interventions have not been supported by any statistical
data.
The article contain information about how trainings will be provided to the early
intervention group as well as the late intervention group. Information about the client level and
service level intervention has been mentioned property in the paper (Stern, Jordan & McArthur,
2014). Inclusion and exclusion criteria helps in the ruling in or out the target population of a
study (Stern, Jordan & McArthur, 2014). Proper inclusion and exclusion criteria helps in
optimizing the internal and the external validity of the study. High risk clients has been chosen
for the intervention.
The paper has utilised 5As model of brief life style interventions. The continuous
outcome measures were diet, alcohol, physical activity and weight. Diet score was obtained to
measure the total number of food served per day. The physical activity score was used to assess