Research Critique: Physical Activity and Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

This research critique examines two qualitative research papers by Hashimoto et al. (2015) and Lange et al. (2019) focusing on the impact of physical activity on elderly patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The critique analyzes the research problem, rationale, purpose, and objectives of the studies, highlighting how they address the PICOT question regarding the improvement of quality of life through physical activity. The report compares the methods used, including randomized control trials and actigraph studies, and discusses their respective benefits and limitations. It summarizes key findings, emphasizing the positive effects of physical activity on patients' quality of life and the implications for nursing practice. Furthermore, the critique addresses ethical considerations, such as informed consent and confidentiality, and how these were handled in the studies. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of evidence-based interventions in developing effective nursing care for elderly patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Running head: RESEARCH CRITIQUE
RESEARCH CRITIQUE ASSIGNMENT
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Background of Study
This paper would discuss about two qualitative research papers by Hashimoto et al.
(2015) and Lange et al. (2019) to critique about their research problem, their rationale of
conducting the research and the purpose and objective of the research. The purpose of this
research was to understand the importance of physical activities among the elderly patients
that are suffering from rheumatoid arthritis so that by measuring their physical activity
despite their rheumatoid arthritis could be assessed using the actigraph process. In this
research study, they conducted an actigraph study so that the effect of physical activities upon
these rheumatoid arthritis patients could be understood (Hashimoto et al., 2015). Whereas the
other research study was conducted by Lange et al. (2019), in which they conducted a
randomized control trail so that the effect of aerobic exercise and resistance exercises upon
the older adults could be understood. Therefore the primary aim of both of these qualitative
research was to understand the effective changes these physical activities brings.
How do these two articles support the nurse practice issue you chose?
The PICOT question chosen for this paper is: Does the application of physical
activities help the elderly patients that are suffering from rheumatoid arthritis in the
improvement of quality of life. These two articles are associated with qualitative approach in
which every aspect of the research has been conducted in a way that will help the care
professionals to understand the changes which would be brought in the process so that it
could be used for the growth and development of effective interventions. The article by
Hashimoto et al. (2015) conducted through the process of randomized control trail so that all
the aspects could be identified through higher level of evidence and these data could be used
for their application in the healthcare interventions. On the other hand, the research of Lange
et al. (2019) is also important as it would help them to understand the qualitative changes the

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process would bring in the patients that are suffering from critical health conditions of the
rheumatoid arthritis. Therefore, their interventions and comparisons helped to understand the
effectiveness of the research process.
Method of Study
The methods that was chosen for both of these studies are different however uses the
qualitative research approach. The first research article by Lange et al. (2019) implemented
the randomized control trail so that they could compare the effectiveness of physical
activities, resistance activities and others upon the elderly patients that are suffering from
critical health conditions. On the other hand, the research of Hashimoto et al. (2015)
conducted with the approach of actigraph implementation so that they could understand the
importance of the research process. Therefore multiple benefits and limitations of the
research process, which could be used for the development of research processes. The benefit
of randomized control trial in higher level of evidence with authenticates the use of the
research process (Lange et al., 2019). Similarly the research of Hashimoto et al. (2015)
includes the study by actigraph which also determines the quality of life which changes after
the implementation of the research study. In the other hand, the limitations are associated
with their application in the nursing process for patients.
Results of Study
Both of these studies that has been included in the research paper is associate with the
application of physical activities, resistance exercises upon the patients that are suffering
from critical rheumatoid arthritis health complication (Legge, Blanchard & Hanly, 2017).
Hence, the researchers used the actigraph process so that it could be used for the
identification of effectiveness of these activities, and it was seen that through the application
of such activities, the resistance power of those patients increased and it was seen that all the

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patients developed abilities that helped them to improve their quality of life. Hence, the result
and finding of this study helped the patients to develop their quality of life. On the other
hand, there are multiple benefits of the research study conducted by Hashimoto et al. (2015),
in which the primary aim of the researchers was to understand the way these processes would
help the patients to understand the importance of it and the benefits would help the patients to
improve their quality of life. Both of these studies are important for the patients and their
growth and development as it would help the patients to understand the benefits of physical
activities and others due to which they would be able to implement effective care in the
research process and their life style would be improved eventually (Lange et al., 2019).
Hence, it is estimated that implementation of evidence based interventions such as the
interventions mentioned in both of these studies are important for the development of
effective nursing intervention which could help the elderly patients involved in the healthcare
process to understand the effectiveness of the research process and develop abilities for its
application in the care process (Pinto et al., 2017). Therefore, while summarizing the benefits
of these research articles its effectiveness in developing critical research process has been
identified.
Ethical Considerations
The two ethical considerations that should be followed by the researchers prior to
conduct research process is application of consent prior to include subjects in their research
process and then maintaining confidentiality would be the ethical consideration implemented
for the research process (Kucharski et al., 2019). Both of these research papers that have been
used for the conduction of research and understanding the effectiveness of these processes
upon the health of elderly patients it was mentioned that these processes would help the
patients to overcome their health complications. Further it was seen that both of the research
process was conducted after the collection of the informed consent from the patients so that

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their ethical and healthcare rights could be protected and then provide them with the research
interventions so that they could overcome their critical health conditions with their
involvement in the improvement of the quality of life (Chehade et al., 2019).

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References
Chehade, L., Jaafar, Z. A., El Masri, D., Zmerly, H., Kreidieh, D., Tannir, H., ... & El Ghoch,
M. (2019). Lifestyle Modification in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Dietary and Physical
Activity Recommendations Based on Evidence. Current rheumatology reviews, 15(3),
209-214.
Hashimoto, T., Yoshiuchi, K., Inada, S., Shirakura, K., Wada, N., Takeuchi, K., &
Matsushita, M. (2015). Physical activity of elderly patients with rheumatoid arthritis
and healthy individuals: an actigraphy study. BioPsychoSocial medicine, 9(1), 19.
Kucharski, D., Lange, E., Ross, A. B., Svedlund, S., Feldthusen, C., Önnheim, K., ... &
Gjertsson, I. (2019). Moderate-to-high intensity exercise with person-centered
guidance influences fatigue in older adults with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology
international, 39(9), 1585-1594.
Lange, E., Kucharski, D., Svedlund, S., Svensson, K., Bertholds, G., Gjertsson, I., &
Mannerkorpi, K. (2019). Effects of Aerobic and Resistance Exercise in Older Adults
With Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Arthritis care &
research, 71(1), 61-70.
Legge, A., Blanchard, C., & Hanly, J. G. (2017). Physical activity and sedentary behavior in
patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Open access
rheumatology: research and reviews, 9, 191.
Pinto, A. J., Roschel, H., de Sa Pinto, A. L., Lima, F. R., Pereira, R. M. R., Silva, C. A., ... &
Gualano, B. (2017). Physical inactivity and sedentary behavior: Overlooked risk
factors in autoimmune rheumatic diseases?. Autoimmunity reviews, 16(7), 667-674.