Research Methods: Telehealth Impact on Mental Health During COVID-19

This report investigates the role of telehealth in improving mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes a research proposal outlining the aim to evaluate telehealth's impact, objectives to analyze its ability to enhance wellness, and research questions addressing the pandemic's effect on mental health. The research methods section details the interpretivism philosophy, inductive approach, exploratory design, secondary data collection, and thematic data analysis. Ethical considerations such as proper citation and avoidance of offensive language are emphasized. A research critique of an article on telehealth during COVID-19 is also presented, covering its focus, background, aim, methodological approach, data collection, analysis, sampling, ethical considerations, findings, conclusions, strengths, limitations, and practical applications. The critique highlights telehealth's potential for data collection, healthcare coordination, and patient safety during the pandemic.

RESEARCH METHODS
FOR HEALTHCARE
PROFESSIONALS

Table of Contents
TASK 1- RESEARCH PROPOSAL...............................................................................................2
Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
Research methods........................................................................................................................2
Ethical aspects.............................................................................................................................3
TASK 2- RESEARCH CRITIQUE.................................................................................................4
Focus............................................................................................................................................4
Background..................................................................................................................................4
Aim..............................................................................................................................................5
Methodological approach............................................................................................................5
Data collection methods/ tools.....................................................................................................5
Data analysis and presentation.....................................................................................................5
Sample.........................................................................................................................................6
Ethical considerations..................................................................................................................6
Main findings...............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................................7
Strengths and limitations.............................................................................................................8
Applications to practice...............................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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TASK 1- RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Introduction
Background
Telehealth care is a kind of digital technological care in which care to service users is
being provided with the help of mobile devices, computers. It further helps people in accessing
healthcare facilities with the help of digital informational system remotely (Lurie and Carr,
2018). Telehealth care system can directly help in providing mental health care services to
people remotely as per their needs and requirements. Today due to current pandemic situation of
Covid-19 adoption of telehealth care has become a basic and important necessity for people as it
has made it much easier for people to access healthcare services virtually or digitally for gaining
advice for bringing improvement within overall physical and mental health of individuals. In this
pandemic time period telehealth care system has directly helped in diagnosing, identifying,
controlling and treating any kind of mental illness or issue from which an individual is suffering
without requiring to go to hospital and can directly access those services virtually with the help
of telehealth care system with the help of a digital platform (Banbury and et. al., 2020).
Aim
To evaluate role of telehealth care in improving mental health of people during Covid-19
Objectives
 To evaluate impact of Covid-19 upon metal health of people
 To analyse ways in which telehealth care can enhance wellness of people
 To recommend ways in which telehealth care can improve mental health of people during
Covid-19
Research Questions
 How Covid-19 has impacted overall metal health of people?
 How telehealth care can enhance wellness of people?
 What are recommend ways in which telehealth care can improve mental health of people
during Covid-19?
Research methods
Research philosophy
Research philosophy that will be chosen for this research project is interpretivism
research philosophy
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Research approach
Inductive research approach will be selected by the researcher for this research project.
Research design
Research design that will be selected and chosen by the researcher for this project is
exploratory research design.
Data collection
For this project secondary data will be collected by the researcher in which data will be
collected with the help of books, journal, articles, online portals, government websites etc.
Data analysis
Data analysis method that will be selected by the researcher for this research project is
thematic data analysis method in which all the secondary data collected will be segregated into
common themes so that important information or data can be extracted for achieving main aim of
this project.
Ethical aspects
Some of the main ethical aspects that were adhered by the researcher are as follows: All
the data or information used by the researcher of other researchers or already published
information are required to be referenced and cited whenever that information are used (Orlando,
Beard and Kumar, 2019). None of the false information or data can be used or data sources that
are not authentic or data that cannot be validated cannot be used within research. Use of
offensive, discriminatory, or other unacceptable language is required to be avoided. None of the
information or data of other researchers would be used as one’s own data within research without
being citied in an appropriate manner whenever used.
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TASK 2- RESEARCH CRITIQUE
Focus
Research article chosen to be critiqued is “The role of telehealth during COVID-19
outbreak: a systematic review based on current evidence”. Main focus of this research article, is
to identify role of telehealth services in controlling diseases during Covid-19 pandemic. In other
words, main focus of this research article is to evaluate role of telehealth care service system in
terms of provision of health care services to people so that spreading of disease, enhancing
overall physical health of people, bring improvement within overall mental health of people as
well (Monaghesh and Hajizadeh, 2020). So, it can further be explained that the major focus of
this research article is about explaining use of telehealth care services, ways in which it can be
used, benefits of using these services and ways in which it can help in bringing improvement
within overall health of patients and providing them effective care. This article has further
majorly focused upon identifying ways in which usage or adoption of telehealth care services can
benefit professionals, service users, society and can further make it much easier for hospitals to
provide their services to patients or service users at report area by maintaining social distancing.
Background
Coronavirus outbreak has directly impacted all the people globally in many different ways.
It has not only resulted in impacted overall physical health of people but has also impacted
mental health of people as well. Most importantly it has impacted physical health of people in
terms of respiration. It is a serious issue to be focused upon because it is contagious and can
spread widely to other parts of the world. It has increased medical problems for people such as:
heart problems, diabetes, hypertension etc. it has impacted mental health of people as well
because due to this, various kinds of restrictions were imposed upon people such as travelling
restrictions, people were quarantined and were forced to maintain social distancing. As a result,
their overall health was impacted. due to this introduction and usage of telehealth care services
for people has become important as it can directly help in diagnosing, treating, and controlling
diseases during Covid-19 outbreak as it can make availability of healthcare services for people
virtually.
Telehealth care service used within health and social care is a patient centred care or
service that can help in protecting patient’s physicians as well as others. This technology can be
used as own of the most important and effective technology that can be used by health care
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professionals for providing health care services to their service users or patients when
maintenance of distance was a critical and crucial factor. It directly helps in accurating
exchanging appropriate and exact information for provision of care to service users and for
reducing chances of suffering from Coronavirus disease.
Aim
This research article majorly focused upon telehealth services role for bringing
improvement within overall health of people. The main aim of this research article chosen is “To
identify the role of telehealth services in preventing, diagnosing, treating, and controlling
diseases during COVID19 outbreak”.
Methodological approach
There are various kinds of methodological approaches that were used in this research
article. Research design selected by researcher in this article was systematic review in which
different kinds of peer reviewed articles or studies were analysed. These studies were assessed
using Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) checklists. This tool directly helped in
identifying overall quality of studies selected. This further helped in segregating studies that
were good source of quality and only those studies were used in this research article.
Data collection methods/ tools
In this research article data collected was secondary data. These secondary studies were
collected from five online databases, some of them were: PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of
Science and Science Direct. So, it can be said that data collection method selected for this article
was secondary data collection method in which data was selected from books, journals, articles,
online portals etc. and from online e- libraries. Method for selecting appropriate studies was
Boolean operators (AND, OR and NOT) method in which main and important key words were
used with these Boolean operators. This Boolean operator technique was used when studies were
required to be searched from e- libraries but when manual searching from web- based resources
was done then normal searching method was sued where only key words were used for searching
from search engines.
Data analysis and presentation
For analysis of data collected of systematic review method used for analysing overall
quality of studies collected used was Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) checklists. This
checklist was used for critically apprising different types of evidences. Other than this, for
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analysis of all the data collected, screening of all the studies collected was done with the help of
extraction table. Data extracted from this extraction table was used for extraction of important
data for understanding main effect of telehealth care by analysing output of these studies.
Sample
As this research article was a systematic review in which only secondary data or studies
were collected, from different digital online libraries or databases as well as from various search
engines. Due to this no primary data was collected and hence no sample population was selected
for this article by the researcher as in this research no primary data was collected.
But if secondary data comes into picture, then for this research article, overall, eight
studies were included out of 142 search results identified. All the studies selected fulfilled
inclusion and exclusion criteria set by research for filtering of appropriate high- quality studies in
an appropriate and accurate manner.
Ethical considerations
Some of the main ethical considerations that were considered by the researcher in this
research article are as follows: all the data or information that were used by researcher and
collected from other research studies and articles were referenced properly using appropriate
referencing style and were also cited properly whether and wherever that data or information
were collected and used. All the data collected by the researcher from other research studies or
from other sources were de-identified before it was released to the researcher. All the studies that
were protected and locked where only used after taking approval or only after signing in were
used. Citation of all the data used from different sources was done in an appropriate manner and
reference for the same were also done simultaneously (Pataki and et. al., 2021). None of the data
or information used by researcher was used within the research as their own and was not cited.
Not only this, none of the data or information used by the researcher were false or twisted in
unethical manner or consisted of inappropriate language use or caused distress to the researcher
or to the readers of the research article.
Main findings
From the findings of secondary data of this research article it was identified that telehealth
can directly be used for collection of important and accurate data related to overall health status
of people infected from Covid-19. It is an effective technology that can be used for incorporating
data associated with healthcare organizations, healthcare situations, at different locations. It is
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one of the most effective and appropriate kind of technology that can be used for identifying
present current number of registered healthcare practitioners, registered nurses, clinics,
healthcare organizations present in a particular locality. This telehealth care services can be used
by healthcare professionals for identifying or updating system for requirements of different kinds
of healthcare equipment’s, and other kinds of medical needs required treating patients suffering
from Coronavirus disease.
From the findings of this article, it was further identified that telehealth care services can
directly help in keeping people updated with precautions that are required to be taken by them in
order to keep themselves safe from this outbreak. In this article it was also identified that
telehealth care services can be used as one of the main and most important strategy that can be
used by organization as it can directly help in utilizing all the potential aspects of provision of
healthcare services, that are required to be followed by healthcare professionals, patients and
other kinds of service users. Effective and appropriate adoption of telehealth care services by
organizations can directly help users in gaining online healthcare services that can be used by
them for bringing improvement within their overall health and wellbeing by enhancing their
standard of living, enhancement of both physical and mental wellbeing.
Effective use of telehealth care service can be used by healthcare professionals for
conducing video conferences or for conduction of calls for collection of required calls and
services. This technology can further be used for provision of digital consultation service. Not
only this, this service can also be used by patients or service users for uploading their reports, or
other health related information online so that it can be viewed and analysed by healthcare
professionals in an appropriate manner.
Conclusion and recommendations
From this article it was concluded that telehealth care services are one of the most
important and potential technology that can be adopted by healthcare professionals and patients,
or service users during Covid-29 pandemic. It was also concluded that Covid-19 outbreak
resulted in adherence of various kinds of implications such as maintenance of social distancing,
quarantine etc. due to which access to healthcare services became a bit difficult for service users
or healthcare professionals. It not only helped healthcare professionals in provision of excellent
healthcare services to patients but also helped in increasing provision of health- related services
and care to people to remote locations where provision of healthcare services physically was not
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possible. It further resulted in minimizing direct contact among people, enhancing effective
communication among people because of which overall health of people during this pandemic
situation were enhanced. It was further recommended in this research article that it is highly
recommended for healthcare professionals to use this care service as a tool for provision of
effective healthcare services to patient and prevent spreading of covid-19 infection.
Strengths and limitations
One of the main strengths of this research article is: all the articles selected were of high
quality and were recently published so those articles consist of new and accurate information.
Some of the main limitations of this research article are as follows: there was a possibility that all
relevant studies were not taken into account due to limitations of the study, inclusion and
exclusion criteria or due to publishing of studies in other languages other than English. Another
one of the main limitations of this article was that access to some of the main digital e libraries or
database was not granted to researcher such as of CINAHL and PsycINFO. There were various
kinds of studies that skipped attention and there was a possibility that some of the most important
information from those studies were skipped despite of adopting appropriate, best and effective
search and analysis strategy.
Applications to practice
Some of the main applications to practice of this research article that helped in enhancing
contribution of this study within evidence- based practice for decision making are as follows: this
study can directly be used for identifying different ways in which telehealth care services within
healthcare best practices can be adopted. It was further identified that telehealth care services can
also be used for analysing important and accurate information associated with provision of
healthcare services to patients, service users, ways in which effectivity of service provision to
patients by healthcare professionals can be enhanced and ways in which this information can be
used for effective decision making (Bayley and Phipps, 2019). Telehealth care services can also
be used for provision of healthcare services to service users at remote locations where provision
of these services physically during this pandemic situation were not possible or to locations
where cases of coronavirus were increased drastically so that healthcare constatation, advice and
care to people living at these areas can be enhanced in an appropriate and accurate manner. So it
can be said that contribution of this article in this area is high.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Banbury, A., and et. al., 2020. Adding value to remote monitoring: Co-design of a health literacy
intervention for older people with chronic disease delivered by telehealth-The telehealth
literacy project. Patient education and counselling. 103(3). pp.597-606.
Bayley, J. and Phipps, D., 2019. Extending the concept of research impact literacy: levels of
literacy, institutional role and ethical considerations. Emerald Open Research, pp.1-14.
Lurie, N. and Carr, B.G., 2018. The role of telehealth in the medical response to disasters. JAMA
internal medicine. 178(6). pp.745-746.
Monaghesh, E. and Hajizadeh, A., 2020. The role of telehealth during COVID-19 outbreak: a
systematic review based on current evidence. BMC Public Health. 20(1). pp.1-9.
Orlando, J.F., Beard, M. and Kumar, S., 2019. Systematic review of patient and caregivers’
satisfaction with telehealth videoconferencing as a mode of service delivery in managing
patients’ health. PloS one. 14(8). p.e0221848.
Pataki, D.E., and et. al., 2021. Ethical considerations of urban ecological design and planning
experiments. Plants, People, Planet.
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