Introduction The ability to critically evaluate a quantitative design research literature is a significant skill for any practitioner in any discipline, including nursing. Critically evaluating an article enables the practitioner to rightfully judge the usefulness and integrity of the evidence as well as the conclusions made in the article. It is without a doubt that today’s healthcare has become effective as a result of evidence-based research and practice. The driving force of research based on evidence is the ability to interpret and quantify a phenomenon as well as examine the relationship among variables numerically. In the case of nursing, the research trend has been evolving from being centered on interactions among the nurses and the patients to finding evidence that would be necessary for nursing practice. Mainly, the main researches have been focused on quantitative research which involves collecting data o variable sand analyzing it. This helps in identifying the deep nature of realities, its dynamic structure as well as its systems of relations. Mostly, it helps identify the strength of correlation between variables.

Breast cancer remains the most common diagnosis for cancer among females in the global statistics for cancer. Notably, there has been an increase in long-term survival rates. The rise in early detection and improved treatment has steadily increased the number of breast cancer survivors. However, it is clear that the patients and survivors of breast cancer face a difficult set of challenges resulting from their treatment which continue to disrupt their daily functioning as well as affecting their quality of life. Fortunately, interventions such as patient education resources and psychosocial support for patients and survivors of breast cancer have increased steadily in recent years. The effectiveness of the interventions given to breast cancer patients is yet to be clarified. The most used construct in assessing the interventions is the quality of life (QOL) of the patients. There exist many research papers on the quantitative research of the interventions and support given to patients and survivors of breast cancer. The effectiveness of these research papers needs to be critically evaluated. This paper seeks to review three of such papers on Psychoeducation and Support for Patients with Breast Cancer and evaluate the strength of the evidence found in the literature.

The three articles that are reviewed in this paper involve the interventions received by breast cancer patients to make their life better. The first article “Comparing support to breast cancer patients from online communities and face-to-face...

The study was carried out in Japan where 1039 breast cancer patients were surveyed (Setoyama, Yamazaki, & Nakayama, 2011). The study involved comparing three groups, one that received support from face to face groups, another one that got help from online groups and another that received support from both face-to-face groups and the online support groups. Notably, all the support groups provided various support types from emotional to conflict solving. The research was not biased in selecting their samples. They considered the response from 1039 breast cancer patients. The respondents were to report on five characteristic related to breast cancer and treatment. The initial expectations of the patients from the support groups were also included in the survey.
The...…patients as well as decreasing the distress and severity of side-effects. Therefore, this research article is significant in evidence-based practice in nursing. However, the research also forms a basis for further study in the same field of study.

Conclusion

The three articles have information that is each equally important to the nursing practice. Despite the weaknesses found in the literature, each of the articles can be used to enlighten a practitioner regarding the use of interventions to enhance the lives of those living with breast cancer. The first article that compares interventions from various platforms provides a practitioner with evidence-based facts on the advantages of each support group and also implies that there is a need for any breast cancer patient to receive services from both face-to-face groups and online communities. The second article may not be of much use to a practitioner since it did not meet its objective which was to determine how effective a psychoeducational program that is web-based would be. However, the use of control group showed that interventions to make better the lives of patients. Moreover, the same was emphasized in the third article that sought to examine the adjustment of women emotionally, physically and socially after receiving psychoeducation through telephone or videotapes. Though the normal self-care of a patient still gives some level of adjustment, receiving interventions enhance the lives of breast cancer patients. Most of the evidence provided in the three articles was strong and only a few of the information provided lacked integrity in the second article. Generally, all three articles form a great base for further researches in the same field of study.

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