Crafting a Compelling Problem Statement – The Foundation of a Successful Dissertation

Crafting a Compelling Problem Statement – The Foundation of a Successful Dissertation

Background Information

Poor access to mental healthcare remains a global health concern. It compromises global efforts towards health population health preservation and promotion and impedes quality improvement measures in mental healthcare. Poor access to mental healthcare has been implicated in considerable deterioration in individual and community health (Snowden et al., 2022). Poor access to mental healthcare is apparent in all communities. However, ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by poor access to mental healthcare. In these groups, traditional healthcare problems, such as lack of insurance that generally affects healthcare systems worldwide, are more prominent, therefore compounding the problem.

The Problem Statement

The problem is poor access to mental healthcare among ethnic minority groups, resulting in decreased consumption of mental healthcare resources and increased morbidity, mortality, and functional decline associated with mental health illnesses.

Scholarly Support for the Problem

Poor access to mental healthcare remains a concern among ethnic minority groups. Snowden et al. (2022) note that ethnic minority groups have more unmet mental healthcare needs than other groups. Blacks, Asian, and Hispanic communities report more unmet healthcare needs compared to Whites. Poor access to mental health among these communities is compounded by high poverty rates, limited English proficiency, cultural barriers, and poor mental health literacy. The consequences of poor access to mental health illness are more profound in these communities and evident in higher morbidity and mortality rates and decreased consumption of mental health resources (Thomeer et al., 2022). This reinforces the need to address the problem.

Potential Benefit of Addressing the Problem

Addressing poor access to mental healthcare among ethnic minorities has considerable beneficial effects. It is likely to increase their consumption of mental health resources and could lead to a reduction in mental health illness-related functional decline and mortality rates in these communities (Thomeer et al., 2022). This highlights the need to address the problem.

References

Snowden, L. R., Cordell, K., & Bui, J. (2022). Racial and ethnic disparities in health status and community functioning among persons with untreated mental illness. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 10(5), 2175–2184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01397-1

Thomeer, M. B., Moody, M. D., & Yahirun, J. (2022). Racial and ethnic disparities in mental health and mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 10(2), 961–976. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01284-9

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Week 3 Overview:

The problem in a doctoral dissertation is the most critical component of the study. The problem explains the rationale and validates the importance of the study.

All dissertations begin with a problem that justifies the need for the study. Without a clear and compelling problem, the study will add little importance or value to an academic discipline or profession. The problem statement is a critically important component of the dissertation. The problem statement explains the reason for your study and substantiates its importance. As you will learn in future weeks, your problem statement, purpose statement, and research questions must align or flow directly from each other, demonstrating their interdependence. The development of a compelling problem statement is the first part of the alignment process.

Crafting a Compelling Problem Statement – The Foundation of a Successful Dissertation

It is important to understand that a problem differs from a situation or statement of opinion or fact. A problem must have consequences. A situation has no consequence.

Example: “United States hospitals are experiencing high nurse turnover” (Smith, 2018) is a statement of fact but does not constitute a problem because there is no associated consequence.

On the other hand, “United States hospitals are experiencing high nurse turnover, resulting in substandard quality of patient care” (Smith, 2018) represents a problem because of the consequence (substandard quality of care) of high nurse turnover. Without a consequence, you don’t have a problem! When writing your problem statement use the following format:

The problem is _____________(state the problem), resulting in ___________ (state the consequence).

Example: The problem is that United States hospitals are experiencing high nurse turnover, resulting in substandard quality of patient care (Smith, 2018).

A Word of Caution

An important trap to avoid is using the problem statement as a soapbox to advance your personal or professional opinions. Remain objective and open-minded about what your research might uncover, and how the results may lead to an array of potential solutions. Don’t decide beforehand what the results will be because research is not predictable. Also, remember that the objective of research is not to prove but to uncover potential solutions and possibilities.

Using the Problem Statement Worksheet, write a 1-sentence original problem for a prospective study you might conduct using the format below:

The problem is _____(state the problem), resulting in ______(state the consequence).

The problem statement sentence must be substantiated with literature to confirm that the problem exists and is more than just your personal opinion or perspective.

Include a citation to support the problem and provide a reference.