Research Paper: An Intervention Program to Promote Health-Related Physical Fitness among Nurses

This is a study which correlates the exercise intervention on nurses with their health-related physical fitness. The researchers have used a quasi-experimental research design where two groups were involved. In such a design, one group is usually manipulated during the study while the other one is not (Ryan, Coughlan, & Cronin, 2007. The method that they used has been comprehensively described, giving full details of how the instruments were acquired and used, as well as the procedures followed. During sampling, the subjects were volunteers, and this ensured that they would give honest answers.

However, some aspects could have affected the internal validity of the study is the sampling process. There was no randomization of subjects regarding marital status and health as the study results also indicate (Yuan, Chou, Hwu, Chang, Hsu, & Kuo, 2009. This led to a difference in the demographic characteristic of the subjects. Lack of randomization may lead to selection bias which in turn affects the internal validity of the study (Polit, & Beck, 2008). Moreover, the samples used consisted of subjects from the same work area indicating lack of independence of the subjects as they might have imitated their each other. Secondly, the researchers did not evaluate the effect of the intervention on the musculoskeletal disorder hence affecting the construct validity of this study. Such occurrences in a study usually interfere with the quantitative results of the study (Dijkers, 2011). Consequently, the results of this study affected the external and conclusion validity of the study as it generalizes other nurses impossible, or misleading.

The validity of the study could have been improved by randomizing the subjects to overcome the biases. This would have ensured there is a similarity in the demographic information hence promoting the internal validity of the study. Consequently, a generalization of the effects of the intervention would also be possible (Schutz, Rivers, & Ratusnik, 2008). The subjects could have also been obtained from different workplaces to avoid imitation.Additionally, the method used should have been more reliable enough to test all the effects of the intervention on the nurses' physical health fitness. This would highlight all the benefits of the intervention and hence make it acceptable.

In conclusion, the results of the study were affected by lack of randomization in sampling and similarity of the subjects workplace. This affected the validity of the study, and hence there was a need for improvement. The researchers could have used a more randomized sample to ensure demographic similarity among the subjects. This could have overcome biases hence promoting the validity of the study.

References

Dijkers, M. P. (2011). External validity in research on rehabilitation interventions: issues for knowledge translation. FOCUS Technical Brief (33).

Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2008). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Ryan, F., Coughlan, M., & Cronin, P. (2007). Step-by-step guide to critiquing research. Part 2: Qualitative research. British journal of nursing, 16(12), 738-744.

Schutz, L. E., Rivers, K. O., & Ratusnik, D. L. (2008). The role of external validity in evidence-based practice for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation Psychology, 53(3), 294.

Yuan, S. C., Chou, M. C., Hwu, L. J., Chang, Y. O., Hsu, W. H., & Kuo, H. W. (2009). An intervention program to promote healthrelated physical fitness in nurses. Journal of clinical nursing, 18(10), 1404-1411.