Critical Analysis of a Research Article Health beliefs about lifestyle habits differ between patients and spouses 1 year after a cardiac event – a qualitative analysis based on the Health Belief Model

Statement of the Phenomenon of Interest

The phenomenon of interest is the health belief between patients and spouses after a cardiac event, which has been clearly stated to the reader by the researchers. There have been fewer qualitative comparisons of this kind conducted. The researchers used a qualitative method for this research because the study was exploratory and they had to collect data by examining and describing the health beliefs of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). The researchers also had to analyze and compare the beliefs of the patients to those of their spouses. According to Lewis (2015) qualitative research allows for the exploration of human behavior that cannot be quantified but it is vital for the research being conducted. Qualitative research is used to explore patterns and meanings conflicts and inconsistencies in people's thoughts and behaviors. Qualitative research is explicitly interpretive. Researchers have to interpret the values, meanings, experiences, behaviors, and opinions of the subjects.

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to examine and qualitatively compare the health beliefs of patients with coronary heart disease and their spouses about lifestyle habits, 1 year after the cardiac event. This is vital to nursing in that it demonstrates the need for follow-up with patients and their spouses in primary health care in order to support them in a manner that is suitable to their needs and desires. Understanding the different views that patients and spouses have in regard to their health beliefs would allow nurses to create goals that would be in line with their views and allow them to make compromises.

Method

The researchers made use of semi-structured focus group interviews for the patients and there were individual semi-structured interviews with the patients' spouses one month after the focus group interviews with the patients. This method was compatible with the purpose of the research since the researchers wanted to identify the health beliefs of the patients and compare them to those of their spouses. By using the focus groups and having four focus groups for the patients allowed the researchers to have a small number of study subjects per group and this was easier to manage and collect data. The semi-structured interviews offered the researchers an opportunity to question the patient on what they said and the patients could...

The researchers do stick to the method proposed and they use this method to complete their study.
Sampling

The researchers used a purposeful sample of patients who had CHD and they had initially participated in the COR-PRIM study that was conducted by the same researchers (Köhler, Nilsson, Jaarsma, & Tingström, 2017). This method of sampling was appropriate for this study because the researchers needed to have patients who have suffered a CHD in the last 1 year. The characteristics of the study required for this kind of sampling to be used in the study. All the study subjects as indicated by the researchers were suited for the research. The inclusion and exclusion criteria have been clearly indicated by the researchers. This allows the reader to understand the subjects who were used for the study and why others were excluded.

Data Collection

The focus groups were geared towards identifying the beliefs of the patients and this was focused on human experience. Allowing the patient participants to express themselves and giving them enough time to express themselves ensured that the research remained focused on human experience. The researchers do indicate the methods they used for data collection and this was through interviews. There was a moderator for each focus group and one of the researchers made observations and took field notes during the focus groups. All the study participants were anonymous and the researchers obtained informed consent from the patients and spouses once they agreed to participate in the study. There is no mention of saturation in the study. Data collection was done using interviews that were conducted either in PHC or at the university. The interviews lasted approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. There was also a self-constructed questionnaire that was used to obtain self-reported patient characteristics and medical diagnosis. Spouse interviews were conducted at the patient's homes and they were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim.

Data Analysis

The researchers made us of directed content analysis to analyze the interview data of both the focus group interviews and individual interviews. In order to ensure that there was the validity of the data, the researchers checked for accuracy of the transcripts. The analysis of the data was conducted in a multistep manner with the researchers indicating the different steps used to analyze the data. Coding was also done using the categorizations that had been earlier predetermined. The researchers have remained true to the steps described and they…