Part I. Write a 2 page paper that analyzes the scenario and responds to the following:
A professor of gerontology who conducts research at the University of Montara has proposed a study on diet and fears of aging in relation to Alzheimer’s disease and quality of life.
This researcher has anecdotal evidence, based on working with older adult hospitalized patients, that patients who had a poor attitude and an unhealthy diet were more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The researcher believes a cross-sectional, mixed method (i.e., quantitative and qualitative) design is the best way to gather data to support this anecdotal evidence.
The researcher proposes studying a sample of at least 20 older adults who are 65–70 years old who were already in the hospital for a regular appointment or other treatment. The researcher will recruit participants by contacting patients in their hospital beds while they are waiting for test results. The researcher will describe the study and explain that their participation and responses will be kept confidential; they may end participation at any time. Following the study description, the researcher will ask patients to sign an informed consent form.
The proposed study has two parts:
- Part 1: Participants answer a 120-item paper-and-pencil questionnaire about diet and eating habits over the last 6 weeks, to be completed immediately after signing the consent form.
- Part 2: One week later [to give the researcher a chance to enter the questionnaire data into the database], participants will come to the researcher’s office for an interview relying on reminiscence approach, to discuss the participant’s quality of life and fears about developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Instructions:
- Is the methodology appropriate for the study and the population being examined? Why or why not?
- What are two or three methodological considerations when conducting research on vulnerable populations, such as older adults?
- What ethical considerations should be taken into account in this proposed study?
Part II. One PAGE
- A brief summary of whether the article’s author(s) discussed ethical considerations, purpose of the study and sample population.
- If they did, provide an analysis of the strengths and limitations regarding the ethical considerations that were discussed. If they did not, explain what ethical guidelines should have been considered when conducting the study and why.
- See attached the article : How Can Ethics Support Innovative Health Care for anAging Population?
