Biostatistics Research Nursing Essay

In September, 1999 in The Lancet, Volume 354, issue 9182, pp. 949-950, A. J. Wakefield published an article titled \”MMR vaccination and autism.\” In this article he presented what he claimed was evidence of a link between the increased incidence of autism and MMR vaccinations. This article became the source of controversy for many years, and eventually The Lancet retracted the article in 2010. Original retracted Wakefield article 1998-1.pdfPreview the document Prior to this retraction the majority of the original listed authors asked for their names to be removed from the article. It had surfaced that at best the research was very sloppy or at worst was falsified. Answer the following questions in an academic, thoughtful manner being sure to cite your resources. Wikipedia may not be used as a citation but you may use the resources listed there as a starting point. Respond to two classmates for maximum credit. Critique the peer post in a thoughtful and academic fashion, citing your resources. Keep this discussion academic. Imagine you are practicing just after the initial article was published. What parts of the article would you question and why? Please compare the study to Nursing\’s Code of Ethics and assess for compliance as part of your response. How would you respond to parents who refuse vaccines because they are afraid their child may become autistic? Biostatistics Research Nursing Essay.

The MMR vaccine and Autism

Patients/ size of the study sample would have been the first part of the article that I would have questioned.  Wakefield and twelve co-researchers studied only twelve children who were being treated at the Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine for regressive developmental disorder and chronic enterocolitis. Small sample sizes could generate results that are fairly low in reliability and the same results might not have been obtained if the research was performed again with huge sample size. A small sample size could not have produced sufficient data to link the MMR vaccine to autism.  According to Sharma et al (2020) estimation of sample size is the most important methodological part of a study accurately drawing generalization of study results. Sample sizes that are too small fall short of producing reliable and conclusive results.

The study method is the second part of the article that I would have questioned.  Wakefield and colleagues performed invasive lumbar puncture and electroencephalography procedures on the study participants. Although the researchers obtained approval from the Hospital’s ethical practices committee and parents consented to the investigations, the invasive procedures could have caused harm to the children, which is a show of callous disregard for the study participants. Biostatistics Research Nursing Essay. As indicated by Yip et al (2016), the main role of human subjects in a research study is to function as data sources. Researchers have the responsibility of protecting health, life, integrity, and dignity. Mistreatment of research participants, including exposure of subjects to psychological or physical harm, is regarded as research misconduct

ORDER A PLAGIARISM -FREE PAPER NOW

I would respond to parents who refuse vaccines because they are afraid their child be autistic by providing parents with information on the benefits and potential risks of the MMR vaccine.  Vaccine safety and information gaps are the major reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Health care providers are trusted sources of vaccine information among parents with varying vaccination attitudes.   Parental trust in providers is influenced by the provision of impartial benefit/risk information a vaccine as well as communication behaviors between the provider and the parent (Chung et al., 2017).

References

Chung, Y., Schamel, J., Fisher, A., & Frew, P. M. (2017) Influence of Immunization Decision-making among US parents of Young Children. Maternal and Child Health, 21(2), 2178-2187. doi: 10.1007/s10995-017-2336-6

Sharma, S. K., Mugdal, S. K., Thakur, K., & Gaur, R. (2020). How to calculate sample size for observational and experimental nursing research studies. National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 10(1), 1-8. doi: 10.5455/njppp.2020.10.0930717102019

Yip, C., Han, N. R., & Sng, B. L. (2016). Legal and ethical issues in research. Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, 60(9), 684-688. doi: 10.4103/0019-5049.190627 . Biostatistics Research Nursing Essay.