Research Question- “How has the COVID 19 Global pandemic impacted health care workers on the front line?”
The fear of the unknown was a huge struggle for health care workers in the COVID 19 pandemic (Sampaio et al., 2020). Not only were healthcare workers vulnerable to the high risk of infection but also to significant mental health struggles (Sampaio et al., 2020). The lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) significantly increased the anxiety and depression experienced by healthcare workers (Sampaio et al., 2020).
This research question is taking a qualitative approach. The question aims at the focus to study the mental health affects health care workers have experienced since working and living through COVID 19. A qualitative approach is the best approach for this research due to the fact that the study aims at developing a new understanding for health care workers’ lived experiences (Gray & Grove, 2021). It is important to understand their thoughts, emotions, and opinions to properly explore this topic.
When determining the sample of this research, it is important to determine the population. The population is health care workers who were on the front lines helping fight the COVID 19 pandemic. The researcher must keep the target population in mind when determining the sample.
The sampling method used in this research will be a Non-Probability method. Purposive sampling will be used to determine the sample. Purposive sampling does not use any randomization, rather it purposely selects the participants to ensure that the desired participants are incorporated in the finalized results (Campbell et al., 2020). Purposive sampling ensures the sample chosen aims at the purpose and objectives of the study (Campbell et al., 2020). In order to make these decisions about the sample, the researcher must be knowledgeable and unbiased when choosing the participants and be able to back up the reasoning as to why that participant was chosen (Gray & Grove, 2021).
A significant strength of this sampling method is the fact that the researcher has control over the participants who are interviewed and who will contribute to the final results of the study (Campbell et al., 2020). A weakness of the study is the fact that this can contribute to researcher bias (Gray & Grove, 2021). The researcher being so involved in the sample allows for bias to occur (Gray & grove, 2021). This also will question the quality and reliability of the participant (Gray & Grove, 2021)
When determining the sample, it is important to determine exclusion criteria and eligibility criteria. The exclusion criteria will include health care professionals with less than 1 year of experience. This is because starting in the healthcare field during a pandemic brings in a lot of different variables. The research wants to target experienced nurses only to keep it consistent. Another exclusion would be the type of healthcare field. We want to target health care professionals who felt the impact of COVID firsthand working with COVID patients every day. Eligibility criteria could include the number of years of experience in the health care setting to participate in this experience, and the type of healthcare environment which will specifically be health care workers in a COVID ICU.
References
Campbell, S., Greenwood, M., Prior, S., Shearer, T., Walkem, K., Young, S., Bywaters, D., &
Walker, K. (2020). Purposive sampling: complex or simple? Research case examples. Journal of Research in Nursing, 25(8), 652–661. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987120927206
Gray, J. R., & Grove, S. K. (2021). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research:
appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence. Elsevier.
Sampaio, F., Sequeira, C., & Teixeira, L. (2020). Nurses’ Mental Health During the Covid-19
Outbreak. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 62(10), 783–787. https://doi.org/10.1097/jom.0000000000001987
