PS412 Experimental Psychology Workshop 1 PRACTICAL REPORT-BUILDER Please add your responses directly to this file. Insert your text where indicated, but do not delete the headings, the pre-typed questions, or these introductory paragraphs. Please use full sentences for all responses but be sure to keep your comments concise and within the sentence/word limits specified. For the longer segments (100 words or more), break your response into paragraphs. Use the default font (Times New Roman, size 12) and single-spaced text for all responses. MY ID NUMBER IS: Title of Practical: Population density and informal care: A cross-sectional survey Introduction section 1. What are the main topics focused upon in this research? [Six sentence max.] Informal care is the provision of regular, unpaid assistance to a person with a chronic or disabling condition, usually by a family member, partner, friend or neighbour (Family Caregiver Alliance, 2014). The recipients of informal care tend to have a chronic illness or disability, for example dementia or related disorder or an ongoing functional limitation, which require assistance in performing even the most basic of everyday tasks. Access to medical care differs between urban and rural residents with some evidence showing poorer access in rural areas. This has the potential to lead to poorer health outcomes for people with chronic illness in rural areas (Gamble et al., 2011). A rural area is defined as having a low population density and large amount of undeveloped land (Rutledge et al., 2011). Urban areas have a higher population density and are more developed in terms of human structures such as roads and hospitals (Rutledge et al., 2011). 2. Why is it a good idea to study these topics? [Six sentences max.] With the demand for informal care expected to increase in the future due to an ageing population (van denBerg, Brouwer, Exel & Koopmanschap, 2005) and increased longevity, steps need to be taken to identify who is providing and where informal care is provided so appropriate support services can be developed. Everyone should have equal access to medical services, so it is important to understand which areas have high or unmet healthcare needs (Morrisey, Clarke, Ballas, Hynes & O'Donoghue, 2008). Rural habitants can find it more difficult to assess health care, therefore understanding the distribution of people giving and receiving informal care would Page 1 Commented [MG1]: Definitions are a good way to start an introduction section. Commented [MG2]: Some further relevant detail that provides further elaboration on the key topic. Commented [MG3]: A sentence providing the link between the two key topics is needed in this section. Commented [MG4]: Definition of the 2nd key topic is needed in this section provide an important insight as to where more facilities or easier access to facilities is required. With studies showing links between the slowing of wound healing and psychological stress of informal carers (Kiecolt-Glaser, Marucha, Mercado, Malarkey & Glaser, 1995) and considerable short-term negative mental health effects on carers (Schmitz & Westphal, 2015), support systems should also be made available to those providing care. Given the importance of informal care for supporting people living independently in the community and the variability of formal healthcare services geographically, it is important to know whether people are more or less likely to provide care based on whether they live in an urban or rural area. 3. How would you phrase the research question? [One sentence max.] Are people from rural areas more likely to provide informal care than people from urban areas? Method section 4. What sample was studied in this research? [One sentence max.] A sample of 57 university students, 50 females and 7 males from the school of psychology received the questionnaire, ranging in age from 19-34, a total of 48 responses were used in the study, 9 responses were omitted for either having missing data or for selecting the “not applicable/don’t know” option. 5. Describe the measures used in the research. [Two sentences max. for each measure] To determine whether participants’ parents had a history of providing informal care, the following question was asked: “Have either of your parents ever provided regular unpaid ongoing personal help for a friend or family member with a long-term illness, health problem or disability for more than 1 year?” The three possible responses were yes, no, or not applicable/don’t know. A follow-up question was asked to assess where participants’ parents lived: “Do (or did) your parents live in an urban or rural area i.e. more than or less than 1500 people, for more than half their life?” The possible responses for this question were yes -urban, no -rural, or not applicable/don’t know. 6. What procedure was followed? [200 words max.] The study was conducted during lecture time by the lecturer. Participants were each given access to a link to a survey on Office 365 forms during class time. They were allowed time to complete the survey, which first asked did either of their parents have a history of providing informal care, and next asked whether their parents lived in an urban or rural setting. A brief explanation of what classified a rural area was provided, as was a short definition of informal care, to avoid ambiguity. A time frame was provided as to the period spent living in the selected area to help the accuracy of responses. The survey also collected the age and gender of each participant. Participants could complete and submit the survey during the time allocated. The Page 2 Commented [MG5]: The final sentence or two in this section should set-up the research question or hypothesis. If the introduction is well written, then the research question should be obvious and the reader should expect it based on what has been outlined in the introduction. categorical data received were analysed using the Pearson Chi-Squared test to asses if there was an association between the two variables (provision of informal care and location of home). Results 7. What did the descriptive statistics show? [Four sentences max.] Thirteen parents of the sample surveyed lived in a rural area (27%) and 35 parents of the sample surveyed lived in an urban area (73%). Twenty one of the parents did not provide informal care (44%) and 27 of the parents did provide informal care (56%). The number of participants whose parents lived in a rural area and did not provide informal care was 9 (69% of rural parents) and the number of participants whose parents lived in a rural area and had a history of providing informal care was 4 (31% of rural parents). The number of participants whose parents lived in an urban area and did not provide informal care was 12 (34% of urban parents) and the number of participants whose parents lived in an urban area and did have a history of providing informal care was 23 (66% of urban parents). 8. What statistical analysis was conducted and what did it show (referring to statistical significance)? [Five sentences max.] The Chi-squared test showed a statistically significant association between the two variables: population density and provision of care. This shows they are not independent of each other. As displayed in the table below, urban parents were more likely to provide informal care than rural parents χ2(1, N = 48) = 4.70, p = 0.03. PARENTS Rural Urban No 9 12 4 23 PROVIDED CARE Yes Table 1: Frequency of provision of informal care by urban or rural dwelling Discussion 9. In plain language, what is the answer to the research question? [One sentence max.] Page 3 Data obtained from this sample indicates that people from rural areas are not more likely to provide informal care than people from urban areas, however people from urban areas are more likely to provide informal care than people from rural areas. 10. Discuss the study in light of your interpretations of the findings, your critique of procedures – commenting explicitly on validity issues – and your recommendations for future research. [300 words max.] Previous research has suggested a link between rural areas and higher rates of informal care (Central Statistics Office, 2016). The findings of this study are to the contrary – while there is an association between the two variables, it appears to exist between higher population densities and higher rates of care. There is a possibility this could be a chance finding in the tested sample i.e. a Type 1 error. There is a possibility that a false positive may have been obtained as an effect in this direction is not seen in larger studies. Convenience sampling resulted in a homogenous participant group of educated university students where there are known sampling biases in terms of higher socio-economic status. The results obtained in this study may therefore not be generalisable. In order to rectify this in future research, a more representative socio-economic sample should be recruited to enhance external validity. A limitation of this study may have been the presence of recall bias which can have affect the construct validity of the measures in this study. Participants may not have accurately remembered their parents’ history of providing informal care. For further accuracy of results, the survey may be given first-hand to those being studied and not their children. In addition it would also be informative to measure both informal care and population density as continuous variables to increase the sensitivity of the analysis. For example, a continuous measure of population density could be determined for the area the participants lived in rather that the crude dichotomous variable of urban or rural. Informal care could also be recorded as number of hours per week and number of years rather than the categorical yes or no response. This use of more sensitive measurement would provide a more precise test of the link between population density and the extent of informal care. 11. Provide a list any references you may have cited in your report. Central Statistics Office. (2016). Census of Population 2016 – Profile 9 Health, Disability and Carers. [Data file]. Retrieved from https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp9hdc/p8hdc/p9cr/ Family Caregiver Alliance. (2014). Retrieved 11 October 2019, from https://www.caregiver.org/definitions-0 Gamble, J., Eurich, D., Ezekowitz, J., Kaul, P., Quan, H., & McAlister, F. (2011). Patterns of Care and Outcomes Differ for Urban Versus Rural Patients With Newly Diagnosed Heart Failure, Even in a Universal Healthcare System. Circulation: Heart Failure, 4(3), 317-323. doi: 10.1161/circheartfailure.110.959262 Kiecolt-Glaser, J., Marucha, P., Mercado, A., Malarkey, W., & Glaser, R. (1995). Slowing of wound healing by psychological stress. The Lancet, 346(8984), 11941196. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)92899-5 Page 4 Commented [MG6]: It is good to say whether the findings are broadly consistent or inconsistent with previous research. Commented [MG7]: Make sure that you used technical and methodological terms appropriately. Commented [MG8]: Improvements to sampling should nearly always be considered. Commented [MG9]: Improvements of measurement should nearly always considered. Commented [MG10]: More specific suggestions for future work are usually better. Morrisey, K., Clarke, G., Ballas, D., Hynes, S., & O'Donoghue, C. (2008). Examining access to GP services in rural Ireland using microsimulation analysis. Area, 40(3), 354-364. Rutledge, K., McDaniel, M., Boudreau, D., Ramroop, T., Teng, S., & Sprout, E. et al. (2011). Rural Area. Retrieved 15 October 2019, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/rural-area/ Ruttledge, K., McDaniel, M., Boudreau, D., Ramroop, T., Teng, S., & Sprout, E. et al. (2011). Urban Area. Retrieved 15 October 2019, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/urban-area/ Schmitz, H., & Westphal, M. (2015). Short- and medium-term effects of informal care provision on female caregivers’ health. Journal Of Health Economics, 42, 174-185. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.03.002 van den Berg, B., Brouwer, W., Exel, J., & Koopmanschap, M. (2005). Economic valuation of informal care: the contingent valuation method applied to informal caregiving. Health Economics, 14(2), 169-183. doi: 10.1002/hec.893 Page 5
