NURSES' ATTITUDES TOWARD SEXUALITY IN ADOLESCENT PATIENTS: AN ARTICLE CRITIQUE
The research critiques the journal article identified below. The article is critiqued within the contexts of (1) problem description, (2) clarity of the problem statement, research question, and hypotheses, (3) logical progression of the literature review, (4) explicit and implicit significance for nursing, (5) evidence of a conceptual or theoretical framework directing the study, (6) identification of the research design, (7) appropriateness of the research design, (8) extent to which major variables are identified, (9) adequacy of conceptual and operational definitions, (10) identification of threats to internal and external validity, and (11) the relation of the conclusion to the study findings and research question.
Wall Haas, Constance. (1991). Nurses' attitudes toward sexuality in adolescent patients. Pediatric Nursing, 17(6), 549 555.
The author makes a case for the contention that adolescents identify themselves primarily through their perceptions of their own sexuality. Accepting this premise, the author states the problem being studied as one that involves the delivery of less than adequate care by nurses who are unprepared to integrate sex education and counseling into their care of adolescent patients.
The only justification offered in support of the contention that adolescents receive less than adequate care from nurses who are unprepared to integrate sex education into their counseling
is that the sexuality of the adolescent patients might suffer during their hospital stay in the absence of sex education delivered by the nurse. Unless the adolescent patient has been admitted for a psychological problem associated with the patient's sexuality, however, one is tempted to respond "so what?" to this problem statement. The author addresses this unstated criticism through contending that sexuality ...