Course Project: Pilot SurveyFor the past six weeks, you have been actively planning the construction of a survey containing good-fit items that efficiently tap the construct under investigation (attac

Course Project: Pilot SurveyFor the past six weeks, you have been actively planning the construction of a survey containing good-fit items that efficiently tap the construct under investigation (attac
Running head: PTSD IN WOMEN 0 PTSD in Women: Questionnaire Design PTSD in Women: Questionnaire Design PTSD in women is a psychological condition which develops in women because of shocking or scary experience. This essay purposes to explain the questionnaire design for testing various aspects of this condition in women. These aspects include PTSD screening, evaluating the symptoms, prevalence, the effects, severity, burden, treatment and the possibility of reoccurrence after treatment. A questionnaire can be designed using two types of questions- open-ended questions which allow the respondent to expound on specific points and objective questions which are always closed to enable a respondent to provide a specified response to an issue. The closed questions always contain options for answers to be given. For instance, the answer could be either yes, no, or I am not sure. In designing the questionnaire, I will use both objective questions to search for specific answers and open-ended questions to allow the respondent to expound on unclear points. The first test item that I will measure is the screening for the condition. In this case, I will ask some questions to try and identify whether the interviewee may be having some symptoms of PTSD. I will ask questions related to personal experiences, like whether the respondent has ever had a traumatizing or scaring experience that made him/her shocked. This will be an objective question which will only require the respondent to say yes or no. After obtaining the answer, I will ask the respondent to explain the event, using an open-ended question. After evaluating whether the interviewees have encountered some life-threatening events, I will measure the effects of the life-threatening events to the respondents. PTSD has a number of effects on the patients that are worth measuring. Life-threatening events may make the victims afraid, stressed, shocked or restless. Therefore, I will ask the respondents whether they have had frightening dreams, distressing memories, flashbacks of the event, physical or emotional distress, and any fear of reoccurrence. In these questions, I will give the respondents options to say yes or no, and then allow them to expand on their experiences like the types of dreams and how they experience the flashbacks. Since the most common cause of PTSD is a traumatizing experience, I will test whether the respondents have had some symptoms of PTSD after the traumatizing event occurred using both closed and open-ended questions to analyze the symptoms given by the respondent. Some symptoms of PTSD in women are Hopelessness, feeling detached from others, avoiding certain events, objects or places, challenges recording the traumatic event and emotional distress among others. Therefore, I will use closed questions to ask “Do you or your friend avoid being reminded of the event and feel numb compared to the way you felt before the event happened?” I will then give them various options such as avoiding conversations, feelings or thoughts of the occurrence, avoiding people, places or activities that remind me of it, feeling detached from the society, feeling emotional restrictions and feeling hopeless. If the interviewee says yes for one or some of these symptoms, then I would know that she may be suffering from PTSD. In administering these questions, I will allow the interviewees to provide more insights on their feelings. Besides knowing the symptoms of PTSD in women, it is critical to identify the severity of these symptoms on the patients. Therefore, using the questionnaire, I will test the severity of PTSD symptoms on the women. In women, the symptoms of PTSD may be worst. For instance, they may be exposed to thoughts of suicide, physically harming of oneself, outbursts of anger, difficulties concentrating, feeling uneasy and feeling guilty all the time. To evaluate these symptoms, I will ask objective questions relating to these feelings and allow the respondents to provide more insights into the nature of their feelings in an open-ended manner. Another test item I will duel on is the burden of the PTSD symptoms on women. The burdens are the negative experiences that women are exposed to due to PTSD symptoms such as the inability to take care of their children, alcohol abuse, becoming arrested, falling in a compromising situation and inability to fulfill some expectations. Spending on unhelpful over the counter drugs is also a financial burden of PTSD. Therefore, in testing this aspect, I will ask some questions such as, “During the past one year, have you indulged in alcohol abuse, become unable to raise your children, get arrested, caused trouble to your loved ones or spent on over the counter drugs to quell your emotional distress?. I will use open-ended questions which will require more in-depth explanations from the interviewees. PTSD has several impacts on the patients. These may be classified as mental health problems, physical health problems and problems at work and relationships. With regards to these impacts, I will test whether the patients have been exposed to any or some of the impacts of PTSD. I will ask open-ended questions like, “How efficient have you been able to work since you experienced the shocking event? Has your eating habit changed? How has your weight increased/decreased since the event occurred?” These questions will enable me to identify whether the PTSD symptoms have impacted negatively on the patients emotional or physical health. Most of the PTSD patients tend to have both physical and mental challenges. Therefore, they may not be able to perform some duties efficiently making social support a key aspect to evaluate. In drafting the questionnaire, I will ask some questions to determine whether the PTSD patients have been receiving some support from their families, friends, and the society in general. These questions will also aim at evaluating whether the patients are satisfied with the social support they receive from the members of the community. The social support received from the community may satisfy the patient or be unsatisfactory. Therefore I will ask a question like, “Are you satisfied with the level of support you receive from your friends, relatives or your community?” I will then put a scale from 1-5 whereby 1 will be not as I expect and 5 will be as I expect. The number selected by the respondent will enable me to make an informed decision on whether the society supports women with PTSD symptoms. Also, it is important to evaluate whether the women are aware of the treatment options available for PTSD patients. Basically, there are three approaches to treating PTSD- psychological therapy, lifestyle approaches, and medical approaches. To start with, some lifestyle approaches include regular exercises, healthy feeding, eliminating drug abuse, involving in constructive duties, using self-optimism and interacting with helpful and inspiring friends. The medical approaches, on the other hand, encompass receiving some medicinal drugs like those that raise serotonin levels, while psychological therapy involves receiving counseling from a mental health professional like a psychiatrist or a counselor. While asking the questions on the awareness status of the patients about the treatment options available for PTSD, I will major on issues like, whether the patient has ever visited a professional Counsellor, whether the patient has ever received medicines from a health professional, whether the patient has been doing exercises, interacting with family members or friends about their feelings, trying to stop drug and alcohol abuse, and maintaining a well-balanced diet. I will administer these questions in an open-ended manner to allow the patients to expound more on their knowledge of the treatment options. Lastly. It is important to know the possibility of reoccurrences of PTSD symptoms in women after receiving PTSD treatments. Research indicates that after receiving various forms of treatments, some PTSD patients may experience these symptoms again. Therefore, I will design the questionnaire in such a way as to incorporate some questions to evaluate the possibility of reoccurrence of PTSD in women. These questions will include, “After visiting the psychiatrist, did you still feel threatened, shocked or traumatized with the event? After visiting the psychiatrist, do you still have thoughts of suicide or physical harm? How has your life changed since you received the medications? How can you grade your friends in helping you to recuperate from the traumatizing situation?” These questions will enable me to make an independent judgment on the possibility of women suffering again from PTSD symptoms even after receiving some treatment measures. In making the tests above, I will use both open-ended and objective questions. The importance of the objective questions is that they eliminate any instances of being biased as the interviewee has only some options to choose from and that I will be able to receive a specific information that I want as precisely as possible without any ambiguities. On the other hand, I will use open-ended questions to allow the respondents to give more explanations on unclear answers and also to give more insights on their experiences. In a nutshell, for the research on PTSD in women to be completed, a well-constructed questionnaire must be developed which will be used as a tool for collecting information. This questionnaire should focus on some test items like the screening for PTSD symptoms from women, testing the symptoms, their severity, burden, impact, treatment options and the possibility of reoccurrence of these symptoms in women. Therefore, I will incorporate all these test items when designing my interview questionnaire.
Course Project: Pilot SurveyFor the past six weeks, you have been actively planning the construction of a survey containing good-fit items that efficiently tap the construct under investigation (attac
Running head: PSTD IN WOMEN 1 PSTD in Women Abstract The paper presents the target audience regarding their demographics, the sample for the pilot study and an explanation to show how to choose the sample size such that it is representative of the population. Further, the document shows the procedures for recruiting survey participants. Keywords: PSTD, sample size, women, recruiting procedures. PSTD in Women The Target Audience as per their Demographics An estimated 7.8% of Americans do experience PSTD at some point in their lives. Primarily, are twice as likely as men to develop PSTD. Consequently, both men and women will benefit from findings of PSTD. Notably, women at the age of 14 to 19 years, as well as those at the span of 20 to 30 years will savor the benefits the PSTD in women survey. Women who are suffering depression and are requesting for abortion will also beneficiaries of the PSTD findings as well as single-living women and women who smoke. Additionally, women who have had sexual abuse and intimate violence are also beneficiaries of the survey. The average age of onset of PSTD is 19 years of age with 25% of cases occurring at the age of 14 years. PSTD affects 7.7 million adults of the U.S. population. The Sample Size of the Study The sample size is part of the population chosen for a survey or experiment. A large sample group can yield more accurate study results, but excessive responses can be expensive. The minimum sample is a 100. The best maximum sample size is around 10% of the population if it does not exceed 1000. For instance, if a population is 6000, 10% of 6000 is 600. In a population of 150000, 10% is 1500. 1500, exceeds 1000, so in this case, the maximum is 1000. Sampling more than 1000 people will not add much to the accuracy of the results based on the extra time and money it costs. In this case, if there are 80 hospitals under survey, then 10% of 80 equals to 8. The researcher can focus on the population in the eight hospitals if then it ranges between 100 and 1000. If for instance, the researcher has money and time to survey at least 500 patients; then that will give reasonably accurate results. If the researcher has inadequate resources, then choose the largest that you can manage that is more than a 100. Procedures to Recruit Survey Population Participant recruitment for research does involve some activities including sourcing eligible candidates, screening them, explaining and keeping them motivated throughout the study. Recruitment may take longer than the researcher anticipates and may balloon due to challenges. Nonetheless, sometimes studies that success in recruiting large numbers of patients, participation rates are low. Realistically, only 3-20% of the eligible participants’ pool chooses to participate. Start with your Users If you are researching for your institution, reach out to people from your customer base. Consequently, watch for bias as they may those fanboys and love your research item which may loathe your study. Post on Social Media Creating a Google Form and sharing the link on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. To increase your response rate, you can mention about an incentive in the message. For instance, “Kindly assist me to investigate more about PSTD in women $10 for only 30 minutes of your time.” You will have a variety of individuals responding, so have an emphasis on your screener (view below) to filter unsuitable candidates. Engage a Recruitment Agency There are plenty of recruitment agencies who have large pools of people available for research though it is not cheap. In your screener, be attentive to eliminate professional participants who know how to game around to get the reward. Word of Mouth/ Snowball Sampling This procedure helps you build out your potential pool from current participants. Word of mouth referrals helps deliver comprehensive results within the recruiter’s network of friends and family. Usually, the cost is low, and the quality is high. Broadcast Email While making use of recruiting emails, you send them to an interest group or an email list of an organization. The cost is low if your file has many subscribers. As a result, it could efficiently help you to recruit a good number of survey participants. However, response fatigue is a risk with this method. Also, one can view it as an exploitation method sending repeated recruitment emails resulting to the recruiter being flagged as spam. After recruiting the participants, it is advisable to screen and set expectations to avoid disappointments.
Course Project: Pilot SurveyFor the past six weeks, you have been actively planning the construction of a survey containing good-fit items that efficiently tap the construct under investigation (attac
Running head: PTSD IN WOMEN 0 PTSD in Women: An Evaluation of Research Tools Used by Researchers PTSD in Women: An Evaluation of Research Tools Used by Researchers PTSD is a type of disorder that develops in individuals who have had a shocking, dangerous or scary experience. Some researchers have conducted various studies into the effects, causes, and events of PTSD in women. These researchers have used different tools to perform their surveys and gather information which they use to derive different conclusions. This essay purposes to critically analyze two specific articles and evaluate the tools that the researchers in these articles have utilized to find information. The first article examined in this essay is a research article written by Liu, Jiang, & Wu (2017), which tries to identify the association which exists between PTSD symptoms and Social Support in ovarian cancer Patients living in China using multiple mediation models. The second article analyzed in this essay was written by Beyond Blue (2017) to investigate the understanding and treatment of PTSD among incarcerated indigenous women. In the first article written by Liu, Jiang, & Wu (2017), the researchers have used some tools to obtain the results of the research problem. The researchers have used convenience sampling to ensure that only the required participants are included in the research. The primary objective of the researchers was to analyze patients who have ovarian cancer. Therefore, only patients who have ovarian cancer were included in the sample. The researchers then used PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version, the Herth Hope Index, the Duke-UNC Functional Social Support survey Questionnaire and the Resilience Scale-14 as significant tools to conduct the inquiry. The PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version was used to assess the PTSD symptoms in the patients. In this case, each item was given a rating based on a five-point grid (5= extremely; 1= not at all), concerning how much the specific symptoms proved stubborn to the patient in the previous month. Under this tool, scores greater than or equal to 44 were assumed to portray the symptoms of PTSD. In the specific article, the patients were asked for their comments on their feelings and experience with the treatment process. The second tool used by the researchers was the Duke-UNC Social Support Survey to access whether the patients received social support. Using this tool, they were able to rate each item on a five-point Likert scale (5= as much as I would expect; 1= less than I would expect) Another tool used in the article was the Herth Hope Index to evaluate the hope of the patients using the Herth Hope Grid. In this case, a questionnaire with twelve items arranged on a four-point grid whereby four represented strongly agree and one represented strongly disagree was given to the patients to fill. After using the three tools to find information from the participants, the researchers used both descriptive and clinical analysis to evaluate the data obtained and found out that participants with stronger levels of resilience and hope often demonstrate a strengthening impact of social support received by the patients on the PTSD symptoms. Therefore efforts to eliminate the symptoms of PTSD from the patients should not only be focused on resilience and hope but also social support. In the second Research article, written by Beyond Blue (2017) the researcher mainly focused on four aspects of PTSD- suicide, trauma, culture, and transition to the community to analyze how people can improve on their understanding and treatment of PTSD among the indigenous women who are either jailed or held in custody. The researcher used three primary tools to conduct the review- Paper-based Structured Questionnaire, Qualitative interview, and clinical diagnostic interview. The questionnaire encompassed questions about custodial experiences, suicidal thoughts, suicidal actions, mental health service experiences, and demographics. Also, the researcher used a psychosis screening tool and some PTSD- linked measures like Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Culturally-Specific trauma events questions, Growth and Empowerment Measure, Trauma Symptoms Checklist and Post-Traumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI). Apart from the questionnaire, the researcher also used clinical diagnostic interviews. In this case, the World Health Organization World Mental Health-CDI computer Assisted Personal Interview was used. This is a computer-based interview aid used to measure the prevalence, severity and the burden of PTSD disorders. This tool was used primarily for women who were screened as positive for psychosis in the article. The last tool used was the qualitative interviews, which were conducted on a subset of women who screened PTSD positive during the screening process to enable them to contribute their views about the impact of PTSD on their lives. According to the above research, PTSD is prevalent among indigenous women in custody. Also, the presence of this disorder among women in custody is linked to marked mental health problems reflected in a greater possibility of co-occurring mental illness, psychological distress and more suicidal thoughts and actions. This essay does not dispute that in the two articles discussed above, the researchers used the specific tools accordingly to achieve dependable results. However, in the first article written by Liu, Jiang, & Wu (2017), the researchers have only majored on the impacts of PTSD on the patients and have not advised the participants on self-test procedures and assessment instruments that could be used by the patients to know whether they might be suffering from PTSD disorders. This could be done by incorporating a life-events checklist (LEC) as a tool in the structured and semi-structured questionnaires administered. It is also apparent in the second article written by Beyond Blue (2017), that the researcher has only majored on the prevalence and impacts of PTSD in patients, but has ignored the ways by which patients may evaluate whether they have PTSD. In other words, the researcher has concentrated more on the screening process, rather than the assessment procedures for PTSD. Therefore, the researcher could come up with more useful results if they could also use Life-events Checklist to conduct assessments on the possibility of the participants who have PTSD before performing the screening process. Therefore, in both cases, in preparing the questionnaires, the Researchers were to include the Life-events checklist. If this is included, then the questionnaire would look as follows: The Questionnaire Survey Questionnaire Introduction Hello, how are you? Do you have some time to talk to me for about an hour? I would like to ask you some questions for a research project on PTSD that we are currently conducting. We would want to investigate how PTSD affects women. Your participation will be purely on voluntary basis and the information you will give us will be kept confidential. I will much appreciate your assistance in answering the questionnaire. I will ask you about your experiences, feelings and other issues that have affected your way of life, behaviours, and reactions. Do you have any questions for me? May I start the interview now? YES NO Have you or your friend (Loved one) witnessed or experienced a life stressing or threatening event that caused horror, helplessness or intense fear? If YES, please briefly describe the event in the space below: Do you or Your Friend (Loved one) re-experience the occurrence in at least the following ways? YES NO Frightening Dreams and distressing memories YES NO Flashbacks( Feeling as if the event were re-occurring) YES NO Intense emotional or physical distress when you are exposed to other events that remind you the occurrence Do you or your friend (Loved one) avoid being reminded of the event and feel numb compared to the way you behaved before the event occurred? YES NO Avoiding conversations, thoughts or feelings about it YES NO Avoiding places, people or activities which remind me of it YES NO Losing interest in important activities of my life YES NO Feeling disowned/ separated from other people YES NO Feeling my range of emotions have been restricted YES NO Feeling that My future has been deteriorated ( I do not expect to have children, get married, get a job or live a normal life) Are you or your friend (Loved One) troubled by two or more of the following? YES NO Outbursts of anger YES NO Difficulties I concentrating YES NO Problems sleeping YES NO Feeling uneasy YES NO An exaggerated startle response Most of the times, do you or your friend (Loved One) feel: YES NO Disinterested? YES NO Guilty? YES NO Worthless? During the past year, has alcohol or drug abuse: YES NO Resulted in your inability to fulfil your expectations at work, family or school? YES NO Placed you in a compromising situation like drunk driving? YES NO Made you arrested? YES NO Continued despite causing trouble for your children, loved ones or yourself? YES NO YES NO Add anything you would want to say about your experience, feelings, and way of life, family, friends or any other issue after the event that you have not been asked here in the space below: In Case you change your location from this village, how can we contact you? Name———————Address———————Telephone——Gender——————-Age————- Administration of the Survey I will use interviews in administering the above survey questionnaire. In this case, the interview will be qualitative. I will collect data from the participants through personal interactions, whereby I will ask questions in person and give the participants time to respond to one question before going to the next question. This will enable me to clarify the unclear and complicated questions for the respondents. It will also enable me to see the facial expressions and the reactions of the respondents when answering specific questions. References Beyond Blue. (2017). The Family Business: Improving the Understanding and Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among Incarcerated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women. Beyond Blue. Liu, Z., Jiang, H., & Wu, H. (2017). Association Social Support and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms among Chinese Patients with Ovarian Cancer: A Multiple Mediation Model. PLoS ONE, 25(12), 1-16.