Improving the quality of life for mutiple sclerosis patients using the nursing-based home visting model - Essay Example

The paper has identified the population under study as the people who live in Arulcara, have been treated with multiple sclerosis, are between zero and eighteen years, and have been registered with the multiple sclerosis association (Akkus, & Akdemir, 2012). This is an efficient description although it has not identified the total number of people who are in the population. The study has not also identified the sampling design that it used to determine the members of the association who were to be included in the sample (Polit, & Beck, 2013).

The research only identifies the number of participants who were included in the sample to be fifty eight. The research used a power analysis to determine the sample size, and this analysis indicated that forty five patients under study were supposed to provide a power of 90% (Akkus, & Akdemir, 2012). Since the study did not identify the total number of participants in the population, it is impossible to conclude whether the sample size was representative of the whole population. However, since the study indicates that all the patients were literate, it means that the illiterate victims of the disease were not represented.

According to Akkus and Akdemir (2012), the study used two methods of data collection that include a general questionnaire and a symptom evaluation form. The investigator issued the questionnaire and the symptom form to the patients who then filled them by answering the questions. The research indicates that the questions that patients did not understand were either corrected or excluded from the questionnaire (Akkus, & Akdemir, 2012). The exclusion of misunderstood questions may mean that the information given was insufficient and unreliable.

The investigators also observed the patients during all the visits, but the study does not indicate whether they recorded their