Research: Research Methods and Health Related Background Essay

Submitted By nenorton
Words: 449
Pages: 2

I believe this article has potential to be better than it was. There was no real conclusion in the article; it was more opinions and reflections. However, if they were to use this article I believe seeking out individuals with a more health related background would be more beneficial. Other changes may include hiring someone that was not a previous patient, but one with medical education in their background. Previous patients can be bias and give false advice and counseling.

There were many difficulties presented. The first one was communication. It was mentioned that there are usually two types of people: Loud aggressive speakers and quiet shy ones. Although you cannot control these different personalities there is the option to do an interview and then possibly decide which group they belong in afterwards. Another difficulty was maintaining hope, which seems inevitable in support groups where patients are dying or going into recurrence of their disease or others often. I believe that patients should be able to change groups whenever they feel it is necessary. Patients are already suffering enough, they do not need any other factors in their life that are bringing them down; however that is why I think an interview beforehand would be beneficial.

They administrated this test to group leaders in New Zealand who dealt with adult cancer. There were 27 participants interviewed and 5 additional participants were interviewed over the phone. Of this group 78% of them were female, 47% of them were not health professionals, and 72% of the leaders had a partner helping them. The last factor mattered because in the article it stated that there was a reduction of stress amongst the group leaders when help was provided,