NPG 400 Assignment : Asking Compelling and Searchable Foreground Questions

Assignment #1: Asking Compelling and Searchable Foreground Questions Instructions

Assignment Learning Outcomes: 

This assignment requires students to:

1. Develop a clinical scenario based on your clinical area or expertise.
2. Using the scenario, develop two compelling, searchable foreground clinical questions (an intervention and a meaning question) that can be answered by evidence.

(These outcomes align with CLO 2.)

Rationale for Assignment:

Developing clear, concise, compelling, and searchable questions is imperative to locating high-level evidence for clinical practice, education, and research. You have been reading and engaging in learning activities to facilitate your learning concerning background versus foreground questions and types of clinical questions. Completion of this assignment will demonstrate your understanding of these essential concepts as early steps for a systematic search for evidence and meet MLO #1.

Instructions:

Review and use the required worksheet for this assignment. The worksheet includes several prompts/questions designed to help you craft two distinct types of clinical questions that align with your specific clinical focus or research interests: (1) an intervention question and (2) a meaning question. These prompts/questions cover your clinical focus or research interest. Students will:

• Complete the required readings for this module.
• Read the example provided below of the clinical scenario and resulting intervention and meaning questions.
• Create a clinical scenario relevant to your focus area that lends itself to both an intervention question and a meaning question.
• The scenario does not need to be overly detailed or complex but should offer sufficient context for readers to understand the expected components of the question, including the population, disease, intervention of interest, comparison, and outcomes. Use the clinical scenario example provided as a guide.
• The scenario can be a hypothetical clinical case or a deidentified encounter from your clinical practice.
• Intervention questions involve treatments, such as medications or procedures aimed at a health problem. Another type of intervention could be a wellness intervention. Regardless of the population of interest, intervention, and comparator, remember that the outcome should be something that can be measured so that you would be able to tell whether or not the intervention was effective. The time element is important in an intervention question, too.
• If you need help with questions you are developing, please ask.
• Develop an intervention question consistent with the clinical scenario and identify PICOT components.
• Develop a meaning question consistent with the clinical scenario and identify PICOT components.

Clinical Scenario Example:

Maria Sanchez is a 52-year-old Mexican American female with a history of obesity and hypertension, for which she takes 25 mg of hydrochlorothiazide every day. She presents to the community health clinic for a routine check-up. Maria states that she usually feels well and has no specific complaints today. Her blood pressure is 150/95, her BMI is calculated at 32, and all other vital signs are within normal ranges. She is alert and in no apparent distress. Maria works full-time at a local factory and lives with her husband and youngest daughter, who is 21 years old. Everyone who lives in the home is employed, but the family still struggles to make ends meet. She has never undergone a colorectal cancer screening and is unsure if it is necessary since she has none of the symptoms common to the disease. You would like to encourage her to schedule a colorectal screening, but you are unsure which type of screening is best and how to address any fears or barriers Maria might be experiencing.

You know that the literature on colorectal cancer screening might be helpful, so you carefully craft a meaning and intervention question to guide your search for the best screening test and information on any barriers that might be affecting Maria.

Intervention and Meaning questions based on the clinical scenario:

Intervention question: In asymptomatic women over 50 years old (P), how does flexible sigmoidoscopy (I) compared to a guaiac fecal occult blood test (C) affect colorectal cancer detection rates (O) within one year?

Meaning question: How do asymptomatic women over 50 years old (P), with evidence of trouble making ends meet (I) perceive the suggestion of obtaining colorectal cancer screening (O) during a routine clinic check-up?

Other important issues to attend to before submitting your paper:

• Submit your paper in .doc or .docx format to Blackboard on or before the assignment due date.
• Name your assignment document using your name like this:
  • LastnameFirstnameAssignment1
• You must cite/reference any sources you used for this worksheet. We expect that students will cite and reference the textbook since it contains all the necessary information to complete the assignment. Remember that one of your textbooks is an edited textbook. If you are unsure how to cite or reference an edited textbook, please check your APA manual or the example in Module 1.
• Complete your in-text citations and reference list following APA publication style.
  • Remember the helpful APA video in Learning Module 1? It is open all semester, so you can review it whenever you need to.

Rubric/Grading Criteria

This assignment is worth 100 points. A good strategy for maximizing your score is reviewing your worksheet to ensure all rubric items are included and adequately addressed in the worksheet.

Hint: take note of the rubric sections that are worth the most points—these sections should be the most detailed.

Course Policies:

• Students are expected to follow 7^th edition APA publication guidelines for scholarly works.
• Assignments are to be typewritten/word-processed and proofread prior to submission.
• Instructor feedback is provided for each assignment and should be used to inform subsequent papers.
• Assignments cannot be rewritten. After reading the feedback provided, students should contact faculty if they have questions about an assignment's content. This is important, as the concepts taught in the course build on each other. 

Rubric for Assignment #1: Asking Compelling and Searchable Foreground Questions

Students will demonstrate the following competencies through this assignment:

CLO 2: Develop relevant clinical questions pertaining to the health of populations and health systems change.

PLO 3: Synthesize established and evolving scientific knowledge from diverse sources and disciplines to contribute to the generation, translation, and dissemination of clinical scholarship.