Research Methods: Behavioral Health Field

PSYCH/626

Research Methods: Behavioral Health Field

The health care field is a multi-faceted branch of study that has evolved over many centuries. This field of expertise is scientifically disciplined due to the fact that it deals with finding cures for almost every conceivable illness and disease known to man. That is why it is extremely important for professionals to conduct appropriate research studies and create efficient research designs that will allow them to gain the best answers to the questions they may have pertaining to a person’s health. Within the behavioral health care field, there is no exception to the quality of scientific research needed to gain a better understanding about a person’s health. The focus of this paper is to describe two research methods used in behavioral health, summarize two articles using two different research methods applied to the same population, and analyze the effectiveness of the methods used throughout each study.

Descriptive Research Method

One of the two research methods used in behavioral health that I will discuss is the descriptive research method. A descriptive study is one in which information is collected without changing the environment or manipulating the variables (Shuttleworth, 2008). This scientific method is commonly used in behavioral health because it allows professionals to gain a better overview of the patient within their natural state. Research case studies, observational experiments, and surveys are often used within a descriptive research design. For example, a researcher wants to known if a college student’s fraternity influences the amount of alcohol consumption. To find out the amount of alcohol consumption among fraternity members of three different organizations, the researcher would utilize observational tactics as well as surveying the fraternity members. This method has its advantages because it allows a researcher to observe his or her participants in a completely natural and unchanged environment. According to Shuttleworth (2008), “In human research, a descriptive study can provide information about the naturally occurring health status, behavior, attitudes or other characteristics of a particular group” (para 3). This sort of research method opens the door for further investigation into the specific study and allows for additional quantitative data to be collected. Overall, in behavioral health utilizing the descriptive research method has its advantages to gaining information about a specific patient or population of interest.

Epidemiological Research Method

The second research method used in behavioral health that will be discussed is the epidemiological research method. World Health Organization (2014) explains, “Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events (including disease), and the application of this study to the control of diseases and other health problems” (para. 1). Tactics within this form of research method involves observations and similar characteristics of a descriptive study, all to understand the distribution and determinants of an infectious disease. Utilizing such procedures allows for medical professionals to gather information, plan, and evaluate preventive strategies of the particular illness being studied. For example, if a health care coordinator was interested in knowing the accidents rate in patients within a hospital. The results concluded that patients aged 60 years and older were more likely to have accidents within the hospital (British Medical Journal, 2014). This information would then be analyzed and preventive actions would result from the epidemiological study. The advantage of an epidemiological research method is the information sought out throughout the studied is not tied to one individual it is collected to draw conclusions and speaks for a population of subjects.

How Descriptive Research is Used in Behavioral Health

Descriptive research is used in behavioral health as a tool to help health care professionals observe and evaluate conditions as it pertains to a person’s health. Freberg (2013), explains that there are four types of descriptive methods used through out the behavioral health field and they are case studies, observational methods, surveys, and archival methods. Case studies usually involves an analysis of a sample group of participants. Observational methods within the behavioral health care field describes a natural, un-manipulated observation of a group of individuals. Surveys utilize correlated questions that are set in a particular way to achieve a specific goal of gaining a person’s perspective or attitude towards a certain topic. They are commonly composed of self reports, face to face interviews, or telephone surveys. Finally, archival methods is often used in behavioral health because this form of research involves locating pre-existing data and statistical findings already researched by prior professionals. Overall, descriptive research in behavioral heath care helps medical professionals analyze and describe situations, therefore enabling them to conduct further research and create theories about a specific health related concern.

How Epidemiological Research is Used in Behavioral Health

The health care field is a complex industry that focuses on scientific and critical thinking methods in a hope of preserving life, while incorporating preventive measures. Epidemiological research does just that within the behavioral health field of care. According to Johnson (2014), “Epidemiology is the study of the distribution, determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems” (para. 5). In behavioral health, epidemiology consist of scientific inquires about a specific disease, analyze of the frequency and pattern of that disease within a given population, and the determinants that may influence the onset of the disease. This scientific research method is important within the behavioral health field because it enables health care professionals to know and understand the demographics of a particular disease with a population and in turn that allows them to create preventive methods or control they outbreak. MacMahon & Pugh (1970) explains:

Originally, epidemiology was concerned with epidemics of communicable diseases. The discipline was extended to endemic communicable diseases and non-communicable infectious diseases. Modern epidemiology has been applied to chronic diseases, injuries, birth defects, maternal-child health, occupational health, and environmental health. Now, even behaviors related to health and well-being (amount of exercise, seat-belt use, etc.) are recognized as valid subjects for applying epidemiological methods (p. 27).

It is intriguing it see how behavioral health professionals has expanded the criteria of epidemiological research in order to fit the needs of the population as it related to health issues.

Epidemiology Article Titled Nutritional Epidemiology

Kelemen (2007), authored Nutritional Epidemiology, which is an article that expresses an overview of commonly used methods of dietary assessments in epidemiological studies that capture consumption patterns of populations over a period of time. The text explains that utilizing epidemiological research, as it pertains to nutrition, enables a better understanding of the affects of health care related condition such as cancer and other chronic illnesses. Epidemiological research supports the conclusion that dietary factors share a relationship with diseases among any given population. Dietary factors includes their intake of vitamin, essential nutrients, minerals, and amino acids (Kelemen, 2007). “An observed association between a nutrient and disease is complemented by statistical analysis of the nutrient’s food source (food, food groups) with the disease, which strengthens the hypothesis under study”, Kelemen (2007) says (p. 403).

Descriptive Article Titled Prostitutes Homicides, A Descriptive Study

The descriptive article that was located is authored by Alison James, Gabrielle Salfati, and Lynn Ferguson. This article explains that it has been estimated that women involved in street prostitution are 60 to 100 times more likely to be murdered than are non-prostitute females (Salfati, James, & Ferguson, 2008). The text also explains that homicides within this particular group of women are difficult to investigate and often remain unsolved. Despite this large risk factor, little literature exists on homicides of prostitutes, and there is a lack of basic statistics and knowledge regarding this very specific victim group that could possibly help investigators. The aim of this descriptive study is investigate and explore key characteristics of this group and how they differ from other subgroups of homicide. offender—female victim nonsexual homicide cases and 17 male offender—female victim sexual homicide cases. This study attempts to gain a better understanding of the crime against these prostitutes naturally and not develop predictions or manipulate its variables.

The Effectiveness of Both the Epidemiology and Descriptive Articles Methods Used in Each Study

Both the epidemiology and descriptive articles provided effective research methods to accomplish their goal set throughout the study. The epidemiology article titled Nutritional Epidemiology used a dietary assessment method to gain knowledge about a person’s diet and how it could correlates with a disease. This article explained that the most common application of nutritional assessments used Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ) for their epidemiologic investigations, utilizing case control, prospective cohort, and cross-sectional study designs (Kelemen 2007). The questionnaire was effective because it asked about a person’s usual eating habits, before the dietary changes could be implemented. The descriptive article titled Prostitutes Homicides, A Descriptive Study , to demonstrate effectiveness of their study utilized an collection of techniques that required collected data from other statistical findings. According to the article, the data sets were compiled of using information from the U.K. Home Office, Hilary Kinnell press reports, and various police forces prostitute murder cases (Salfati, James, & Ferguson, 2008). Additional data was collected from local newspapers and posted created throughout the internet. The effectiveness of this method allowed researchers to use statistical data and compare their findings to the already reported ones. Overall, both articles used scientific methods to help them answer certain questioning pertaining to their research study.

Conclusion

In conclusion, when deciding on the best possible scientific study to utilize, a researcher must be aware of what type of questions they want answered. If a study wants to gain a better understanding about a particular subject, generate a theory, or observe a population within their natural state one was perform a descriptive study. If a researcher is interested in understanding an epidemic outbreak of a infectious disease within a particular population, analyze its determinants, and develop preventive practices one would use a epidemiological research design. Throughout this text, a descriptive and epidemiological research article was located and explained. Their research methods was explained for their effectiveness. After completing this task, I have learned that it is important to know and understand the different characteristics composed within the various research methods used in behavioral heath care.

References

British Medical Journal. (2014). What is epidemiology?. Retrieved from http://www.bmj.com/about-bmj/resources-readers/publications/epidemiology-uninitiated/1-what-epidemiologyFreberg, L. (2013). Descriptive research methods in psychology. Retrieved from http://psych.com/studies/descriptive-research-methods-in-psychology

Johnson, E. O. (2014). Behavioral health epidemiology. Journal of Mental Health, 19(3), 233-248. Retrieved from http://www.rti.org/page.cfm/Behavioral_Health_EpidemiologyKeleman, L.E. (2007). Epidemiology: nutritional epidemiology. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 25(4), 401-407. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2036.2007.03244.x

MacMahon, B., & Pugh, T. F. (1970). Causes and entities of disease. Journal of Preventive Medicine, 12(5), 25-32.

Salfati, G., James, A., & Ferguson, L. (2008). Prostitute homicides a descriptive study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(4), 505-543. doi:10.1177/0886260507312946

Shuttleworth, M. (2008). Descriptive research design. Retrieved from https://explorable.com/descriptive-research-designSutton, S., Baum, A., & Johnston, M. (2004). The sage handbook of health psychology [University of Phoenix Custom Edition eBook]. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, PSYCH626 website.

 World Health Organization. (2014). Epidemiology. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/topics/epidemiology/en/