NURS 8201 Week 10: Assignment 2 Article Critique NURS 8201 Week 7 Assignment

The identified practice gap for my practicum DNP project is the lack of peer support services for patients with traumatic experiences at my clinical practicum site. The proposed change is a quality improvement (QI) initiative incorporating peer support in trauma-informed care (TIC) to accelerate recovery. The project will be implemented at the Advantage Crisis Stabilization Unit, a Behavioral Health Crisis Center that provides crisis stabilization, temporary observation, and crisis walk-in services. Peer support entails having people from diverse backgrounds share common trauma experiences. Owing to their similar experiences and shared understanding, patients may create trust with their peer support worker and will be more ready to engage in treatment.   The purpose of this paper is to critique a quantitative research article related to my topic, including the study’s strengths and weaknesses. In addition, I will recommend changes to improve the quality of the study and discuss the implications of the study for nursing practice.

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Overview of the Quantitative Study 

Asadzadeh et al. (2020) examined the impact of brief midwife-led counseling, founded on the Gamble and colleagues’ approach, in reducing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety symptoms among women who had undergone a traumatic childbirth. The study employed a randomized control trial (RCT) on pregnant women attending three governmental antenatal clinics. The study sample included 90 women with a history of traumatic childbirth. The participants were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups with 45 women. The Gamble and colleagues’ approach entails a midwife-led brief counseling intervention for postpartum women exhibiting PTSD symptoms. It comprises two counseling sessions by midwives at 48–72 hours and four to 6 weeks post-delivery. This approach stresses the therapeutic relationship, acknowledgment of experiences, conveying emotions, reviewing labor management, increasing social support, and problem-solving.

In the study, the participants in the intervention group had a face-to-face counseling session within 72 hours post-delivery and a telephone counseling session four to 6 weeks postpartum. On the other hand, participants in the control group were only provided with postnatal routine care. The study’s outcome measures were PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms. The study’s findings revealed that at the three-month follow-up, the participants in the intervention group demonstrated markedly higher improvement in PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms than those in the control group. In addition, the PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms drastically reduced from 72 hours to four to 6 weeks and three months postpartum in the intervention group. However, the control group had no significant change during the same period.

Strengths of The Study

The strengths of the study by Asadzadeh et al. (2020) include having a relatively large sample size, employing a randomized control trial design, and using various screening tools for data collection. The study used a large sample size of 90 pregnant women. Andrade (2020) explains that a large sample size increases the generalizability of the findings as it provides the researchers with more statistical power. Besides, a large sample size provides more reliable and accurate results and enables the integration of information from a lot of people and data sources.

A randomized control trial design allowed for a direct comparison of implementing Gamble and colleagues’ intervention and routine care between the two groups. This provided a real representation of how the proposed approach impacts the mental health and well-being of women who have experienced a traumatic childbirth (Sharma et al., 2020). Moreover, employing an RCT trial helped to prevent bias, given that the participants were randomly selected into an intervention or control group, and the two groups were well-balanced with 45 women each. Therefore, it is highly likely that the only variables contributing to the differences in PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptoms between the groups are the effects of the interventions used for each group.

The study used a variety of screening tools to collect data on symptoms of anxiety, PTSD, and depression symptoms among the participants. Data was collected from both the intervention and control groups using Hamilton’s anxiety rating scale, Edinburgh postnatal depression scale, and PCL-5 within 72 hours, four to 6 weeks, and three months post-delivery. The psychometric properties of Hamilton’s anxiety rating and Edinburgh postnatal depression scales have