COURSE:
TOPIC:
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER
SCHOOL OF NURSING - NEW ORLEANS
Nursing 3366
Guidelines for Analyzing a Nursing Research Study
During the clinical rotation, each student will present a nursing research article during clinical conference on a topic
assigned. The purpose of this activity is to encourage evaluation of research findings and the application of research
findings to clinical practice.
The course objective to which this activity is related is that the student:
XI. Discusses findings from research to improve nursing care for adult consumers.
ASSIGNMENT:
Read an article related to the assigned topic (this article should come from a nursing journal) and
answer the questions which follow. Be prepared to discuss your answers.
Article Reference: Schottelkorb, A. A., Swan, K. L., & Ogawa, Y. (2020). Intensive ChildCentered Play Therapy for Children on the Autism Spectrum: A Pilot Study. Journal of
Counseling & Development, 98(1), 63-73.
Question
Answer
What is the purpose of the study?
To investigate the effectiveness of intensive child-centered
play therapy for children diagnosed with autism spectrum
disorder.
What is the significance of this study to
nursing?
It is very applicable to nursing because play is so crucial to a
child’s development. Nurses/doctors might try to medicate a
child with autism spectrum disorder because of disruptive
behaviors, etc. but maybe play should be incorporated before
going straight to meds.
Research participants were recruited from 5 elementary
schools in the northwestern United States. The leader of the
study contacted the school counselor from each school to
explain the study. The school’s counselor then identified and
contacted all parents with children who had autism. Then the
author met with all interested parents to review consent and
participation requirements.
Requirements: had a diagnosis of ASD either by a medical
professional or school psychologist, were between ages 3-12,
scored on the Social Responsiveness Scale in the moderate to
severe impairment of functioning for ASD, and were not
participating in any counseling services
With those requirements, 23 children were included in the
study.
What procedures were used to carry out the
study (i.e. what did the researchers do to
collect the data)?
The study assigned 12 of those children to an intensive child-centered
play therapy group while the other 11 where assigned to a nointervention control group.
Briefly summarize the findings of the
Results show that the children who participated in 24 sessions
study.
of child-centered play showed a significant decrease in autism
spectrum disorder core symptoms and behavioral symptoms,
such as externalizing problems, attention problems, and
aggression, compared with the children in the control group. It
also improved to social behavior of the children with autism.
Parents reported that their child had improved eye contact,
decreased tantrums, increased appropriate play behaviors, and
increased relational play with parents. Half of the children
changed in symptom severity by an entire category (from
severe to moderate ASD symptoms to moderate to mild). By
contrast of the 11 control group participants, 6 were reported to
have worsening symptoms and the remaining 5 were reported
to score the same as or within 1 point of pretest.
On a scale of 0-10 what overall score for
I give this study a 7/10. I believe this an excellent study that
scientific merit would you give this study
could be used to help future children diagnosed with autism
(how would you evaluate the study
spectrum disorder and to help therapists learn different
overall)?
methods to interact with these children. I only have the study a
7/10 because the study used a small sample size of only 24
children and no follow-up was performed to ensure that
changes persisted postintervention.
How can you apply the findings to your
I could apply the findings of this study to my psychiatric
psychiatric nursing practice?
nursing practice by informing and even giving
nurses/doctors/therapists this research study in order to inform
them of the benefits of integrate intensive-child centered play
for children diagnosed with autism.
*This assignment is included as part of your clinical performance grade