Worksheet for Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Study

Running head: CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Critical Appraisal
Student Name
University Name
Author Note

1
Worksheet for Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Study1
Citation: Galvin, J., Suominen, E., Morgan, C., O'Connell, E. J., & Smith, A. P. (2015).
Mental health nursing students' experiences of stress during training: a thematic analysis of
qualitative interviews. Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing, 22(10), 773-783. Doi:
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12273
Confirm this is an empirical/data-based study using qualitative methods by pasting
below a statement from the article (appropriately cited) that attests to this:
“Thematic analysis was chosen as appropriate because it is a commonly used method for
describing, analyzing, and reporting themes and patterns in data. The flexibility of thematic
analysis allows the data to be analyzed under a number of qualitative frameworks, and in
this instance, the framework was grounded theory (Galvin, Suominen, Morgan, O’Connell &
Smith, 2015).”
State the research question posed by the authors:
“What is the impact of stress on training of mental health nurses?”
Using PCC, identify the following:
The main context of the assignment was to find the influencing factors of stress among the
mental health nursing students in various nursing institutions. For the appropriate critique of
the article, it is important to deduce the PCC form of context such that relevant results could
be established.
P (= population): mental health nursing students
C (= concept): factors influencing the level of stress in mental health nursing students
C (= context): nursing institutions
APPRAISAL GUIDE COMMENTS
I. Ontological, Epistemological, Methodological and Ethical questions
1. Was a qualitative approach According to the study and other studies, nursing
1Developed based on and adapted from: The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tools for use in JBI
Systematic Reviews - Checklist for Qualitative Research; Critical Appraisal of a Qualitative Study; and The
Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine – Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Studies
Critical Appraisal

2
appropriate? Is the question being
asked seeking to further
understanding of people’s views,
opinions or experiences in relation to
a specific
setting/scenario/circumstance?
Explain
and mental health nursing students are likely to
experience stress and are unable to implement
positive coping strategies for stress reduction
(Itzhaki et al., 2015). It is for understanding the
perspectives of the nurses and influencing factors
of stress that interviews had been conducted.
2. Is there congruity between the
stated philosophical perspective, the
research methodology, the research
question, the methods, analysis and
interpretation of results? Explain
The purpose of the study stated the requirement to
learn about the factors related to stress and the
impounding effects each one of them has on the
performance of the students in their learning
program. It is for this that a questionnaire was
structured to understand it directly from the mental
health nurses specifically of the associating factors
of stress in their surrounding environment.
Therefore, it can be observed that there was high
congruity among the research methodology and
the philosophical perspective of the study.
3. Is the researcher’s position
described2?Is there a statement
locating the researcher culturally or
theoretically? Explain
In the research study conducted by the author, no
concise sentence could be found which depicted
the position of the author or represented culturally
or theoretically.
4. Is the research ethical according
to current criteria or, for recent
studies, and is there evidence of
Ethical approval was given from the School of the
Psychology Research Ethics Committee. The
Healthcare REC respected the Psychology REC
2 It is ideal that the researcher(s) clearly state their position in relation to the research question. For example –
their background, gender, and existing knowledge or personal experience of the topic to be researched.
Critical Appraisal