Research Strategy Search Based Questions

DISCUSSION: SEARCH-BASED QUESTIONS

Discussion: Search-Based Questions

My research was based on substance use disorder. The practice question that I sought to answer in my research for my DNP project was: which education strategies would be effective in preventing and reducing drug addiction among adolescents? A review of past studies indicates that education strategies play a significant role in preventing and reducing substance use disorder among adolescents. While beginning the literature search, I discovered that there were numerous articles on education strategies for substance use disorder. I however encountered some difficulties trying to find studies conducted over the last few years. In essence, my intention was to find studies conducted over the last 5 years. My research question focused on adolescents only. As a result, it took a lot of time to find relevant research focused or related to this age group. I was able to progress with the search given that the research required that I use 2-3 scholarly articles from Walden Library to address my critical question. To supplement my sources and gain better understanding of the issue under consideration, I also relied on Google scholar. This is an instrumental resource given that it provides one with a wide range of peer-reviewed articles. Thus, I also used Google scholar so as to limit my search to peer-reviewed articles.

From Google scholar, I was able to find articles that were relevant for my research question. I used the following search strategy to find relevant information. The key terms with their synonyms included; substance use disorder, addiction or substance use, adolescents or youths, education or education level, and evidence-based interventions. I used the Boolean operator ‘and’ so as to narrow my results. Therefore, I included substance use disorder, adolescents, and education. I also used government articles to find evidence-based interventions regarding education strategies used. It is important to note that although some of the articles that I selected for this study were current and published within the last 5 years, others were not as recent but were relevant to the subject matter. In terms of plan and search strategy, it was easier to conduct the search since I knew what was needed for my research. This is more so the case given that I had some understanding of the resources that I could use for my research question. For instance, I used Google search which restricted my search to specific kinds of articles, i.e. peer-reviewed sources. I was also able to categorize the search in terms of the population of interest, i.e. adolescents. From this, I was able to find sources that were relevant while avoiding those that seemed not to be relevant to my research question. The search strategy used helped in accounting for all the search terms in my research question which then ensured that I retrieved results that were meaningful and relevant. To conduct a search related to education strategies that would be effective in reducing drug addiction among adolescents, I would also recommend databases which are inclusive of, but they are not limited to; APA PsycInfo, CINAHL & MEDLINE combined search, ICPSR, and World Health Organization.