Qualitative Article Critique

Introduction
This is a critique of a paper presented on acute care of dementia. The article is called “Healthcare staffs’ experiences and perceptions of caring for people with dementia in the acute setting: Qualitative evidence synthesis” and it will be critiqued in two sections (Houghton et al, 2016). Part 1 will consist of a summary of sections of the paper, which will analyse the important parts of the research process such as the hypothesis, the methodology, and the discussion. Part 2 will consist of a rating scale, which will rate the quality of important sections of the paper as well as provide comments for each element that is rated.

Part 1
The main purpose of the paper is to carry out a systematic review of several healthcare staff experiences when it comes to caring for patients diagnosed with dementia, for the purposes of finding what barriers exist in current frameworks for their care. The authors state that there has been a steady increase in policies and initiatives targeted at treating patients that have dementia, without corresponding studies into the efficacy and quality of care in these initiatives (Baker, 2014). Thus, the authors decided to carry out a review of staff experiences with such initiatives and patients, so as to create a basis on which evidence-based policy amendment and formulation can be carried out for the treatment of patients with dementia.

Overview
The article appears in a nursing journal, and this discipline is heavily reflected throughout the paper. The authors make several references to nursing theories and terminology associated with nursing healthcare. In particular, the authors make references to patient-centred care and familial relationships, which display a strong relationship of the paper’s content to the holistic care theories that guide nursing practices and frameworks.

In terms of the quality of the rationale in the paper, there is a great amount of detail displayed in the text, and the authors make sure to explain the background behind each issue in a succinct manner. A clear train of thought is also demonstrated in the journey from the background and introduction to the results and the conclusion. Therefore, it is easy to understand the reasoning behind the process of the research, which appears to be logical.

In terms of objectivity, an analysis of the paper’s content shows that the authors do not show any bias. The information in the introduction and the research process appear to be objective. The authors carefully explain all the reasoning behind the justification, review, and data analysis portions of the study, showing that there was no bias in terms of the methods that were chosen or the secondary sources that were selected for review.

Major Sections
The background is the first major section of the paper. It introduces the topic that the paper covers, and explains the rationale behind the authors’ choice to research the issue. It provides a detailed background by defining the illness discussed therein, and explaining why an evidence-based study of staff experiences would be relevant to future policy formulation and amendment.

The next major section in any academic paper is the hypothesis. The hypothesis is the main statement of intent for the paper, and is usually modified into a research question as well, augmented by objectives that enable the researcher to prove or disprove the hypothesis. In this paper, however, the hypothesis is not explicitly stated. Instead, a study objective is provided, from which one can infer the hypothesis.

The absence of a hypothesis is not the only unique feature of the paper. The paper also lacks a literature review. The gap is a result of the fact that the paper does not use primary sources for its data. Instead, the paper is a review of the contents of several other articles. As a result, the literature review is left out and instead, the authors carry out a detailed explanation of their methodology and review process.

The methodology used in this paper is mainly a reviewing process whose steps are explained at each stage. The review committee created caries out a stepwise review process that is summarised in a diagram in the paper, so as to ensure an objective selection of peer-reviewed research articles. The review process and data collection is guided by a framework known as VIPS, which the authors explain adequately by referencing other authors (Brookers et al, 2016).

The analysis of the data collected via the VIPS method is presented in the paper through a combination of prose and tables. The data is presented in a means that has continuity with the sections highlighted in the methodology, including such sections as ‘patient-patient interactions’ and ‘individualised care’. There is also continuity and consistency in terms of the language used in the paper. There are no grammatical errors and the format of the paper remains true to APA.

Lastly, there are no ethical issues mentioned in the paper. The authors do not make any references to these issues likely due to the fact that each of the secondary sources had handled anonymity and consent in each of their data collection. Therefore, as a review paper, the authors did not have any legal content.

Strengths and Weaknesses
In terms of strengths, the paper maintains fidelity to its main discipline – nursing. It also presents a detailed and logical rationale for its justification, as well as the consequent sections of its body. The abstract is also informative while remaining summarised. The one weakness of this paper was the use of software called NVivo that not all readers might be familiar with for the review.

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Part 2
Rating Scale
ARTICLE READ: Healthcare staffs’ experiences and perceptions of caring for people with dementia in the acute setting: Qualitative evidence synthesis
RATING SCALE: Use this scale to score your study:

1 = unable to determine
2 = not present
3 = marginally present
4 = present

References
Baker, C.J. (2014). Developing excellent care for people living with dementia in care homes. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Brooker, D., Lantham, I. (2016). Person-centred dementia care. Making services better with the VIPS framework. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Houghton, C., Murphy, K., Brooker, D., & Casey, D. (2016). Healthcare staffs’ experiences and perceptions of caring for people with dementia in the acute setting: Qualitative evidence synthesis. International Journal of Nursing Studies 61, 104-116.