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Essay / Qualitative review of the article
Table of contentsCitationArticle summaryLevel of evidenceCritiqueApplicationReferencesCitationEmmerson, KB, Harding, KE, Lockwood, KJ and Taylor, NF (2018., Home exercise programs supported by video and Automated reminders for stroke patients: a qualitative analysis. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 65: 187-197. should not be banned”? Get the original essayArticle SummaryIn the article, the Researchers examined the role of technology in home exercise programs prescribed to people who have suffered a stroke during the course of the The researchers approached this study qualitatively by conducting in-depth interviews and examined the commonalities between the findings. The researchers used it to get an idea of what the participants were thinking and experiencing during the study. The methods used by the researchers to collect participant data consisted of in-depth, semi-structured interviews. These interviews were conducted to examine patients' perspectives on integrating technology into their home exercise programs and see the results of doing so. Participants in this study were ten men with a history of stroke and upper limb impairment. Participants were selected if they "had been admitted to a community rehabilitation program in a large metropolitan health service and had participated in the intervention group of a randomized controlled trial comparing the impact of touchscreen tablets to support home exercise programs for the upper limbs with usual care. after a stroke” (Emmerson, 2018). The duration of the study was four weeks. During this time, participants were given an iPad on which their home exercise program was filmed. This was done so that participants could refer to the videos if necessary. Participants were asked to observe themselves in the video and imitate the exercises while watching it. After the four-week research period, interviews were conducted by the principal investigator in a private room at the health facility. These interviews were recorded on a cell phone and then written verbatim. Each interview lasted less than 15 minutes. Four themes were covered during the interview process: “past use of technology, experiences using technology for home exercises, impact of this technology on the patient's rehabilitation and intentions for future use” (Emmerson, 2018). Interview responses were reviewed by two researchers who examined the data closely and assigned codes to sections of the text separately. These codes were given to analyze and interpret the data meaningfully. After creating common themes from these codes, the researchers came together to establish common themes across all of the data. A third researcher then joined the analysis process and together they refined the coding list while discussing their disagreements. The researchers determined that eight participants thought the technology was helpful in their rehabilitation plan. Participants said that using technology for their home exercise programs helped them improve their overall recovery and also helped them recognize that they were making progress. All eight participants added that the use of technology madeexercise programs more enjoyable because they could track their improvement. They also reported that this program helped them feel stronger and increased the range of motion in their upper limbs. Using the tablet in their home exercise program also helped with motivation, ease of following instructions, better organization, and an easier way to track their progress. Caregivers also said they appreciated using the tablet because it gave them a way to see what was happening during therapy sessions and help hold participants accountable. Not all participants thought using the tablets was beneficial. Two of the participants stated that they “felt too old for technology” and had difficulty navigating the functions (Emmerson, 2018). Overall, the response to using technology with home exercise programs has been positive. All participants in this study had the ability to use technology for the purposes of the study. The majority of participants believed that using technology in their home exercise program was beneficial to their recovery from stroke. This study suggests that touchscreen tablets are more beneficial for transmitting information than the old paper-based approach to home exercise programs. Researchers believe this is true because tablets provide opportunities for multimodal learning through vision, hearing and touch. Level of Evidence The level of evidence for this qualitative analysis article is level 5 because it is a descriptive review of a qualitative study. The researchers reviewed the information collected from the participants on the specified topic. They used a thorough process to ensure there was minimal bias. They answered a specific question regarding the effect of technology on home exercise programs and drew conclusions from the data collected. Add source.ReviewThere were strengths and weaknesses of this article. One of the strengths of this study was that it addressed everything important for qualitative analysis: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Credibility was addressed because the study used established qualitative research methods. Familiarity was addressed because the organization used to bring participants together was well established. The principal researcher worked on the site that was used to gather participants. Transferability was demonstrated through contextual information collected from sites and participants. All of this information had been provided to the research team. This essay has been referenced and could easily be expanded upon. This research was reliable because detailed information was provided on the research design and analysis process. Confirmability was addressed as an audit trail was provided. There was a detailed and clear description of the steps taken to complete and review the data collected in the research. Limitations of the study were highlighted in the sample size used and among the participants used. The sample size used was small, with only ten participants. Having a larger sample from which to extract information would give researchers more insight. Additionally, the study only focused on men's response to home exercise programs and technology. If this study were to be redone, researchers would need to include women. This could determine whether similar results=61584