Quantitative Research

This is a critical appraisal of the article “Flu Vaccination Among Patients With Diabetes: Motives, Perceptions, Trust, And Risk Culture – A Qualitative Survey” by Verger et al. to determine its importance for nursing practice.

Problem and Purpose

It is clearly stated that the purpose of the study was to investigate the motives, perceptions, and trust of patients with diabetes regarding vaccination against seasonal flu. Therefore, the study was to determine the reasons why diabetic patients accept or reject vaccination against seasonal influenza and their level of trust in authorities, science, and medicine. The results of this study are important to nursing practice since they can help in improving the acceptability of vaccination against seasonal flu among diabetic patients.

Review of The Literature

Vaccination against seasonal influenza is important in diabetes patients since the infection increases morbidity and mortality rates among this group of patients (Bocquier et al., 2020). Even though vaccination of diabetic patients against the infection is important, there have been high refusal rates. Most of the previous studies only focus on the perceived severity of seasonal influenza as the reason for refusal of vaccination. However, negative opinions have been regarding vaccination against seasonal influenza (Alvarez et al., 2017). The identified gap in the literature is to determine how the opinions of diabetic patients influence vaccination against seasonal influenza.

Although the author of the article presents the review of the literature in a logical format, there are several limitations in the review. For instance, the author fails to include a theoretical framework that guides the development of the research study. A theoretical framework is important in any study since it describes the theory for the existence of a research problem. Moreover, the authors fail to critically analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the studies included in the review.

Research questions

The authors of the article did not formally state the research questions for the study. However, it is possible to come up with a research question from the title of the article. For example, one of the research questions could be “How do motives, perceptions, trust, and risk culture of diabetic patients about seasonal flu vaccination influence their vaccination against seasonal flu?” The nature of this question implies the study is a qualitative study.

Sampling

Even though the sampling technique is not stated in the article, the researchers sample diabetic patients living in the south of France regardless of whether they had been vaccinated or not during the previous flu season. The sample is appropriate for the study since it can help determine why diabetic patients accept or reject seasonal flu vaccinations based on their motives, perceptions, trust, and risk culture. This sample reflects the populations as identified in the research question.

Research Design

The study adopted a qualitative study design. This study design is suited for the study determining the opinions of diabetic patients about their vaccination against seasonal flu. The study design would allow the use of narrations in the results.

Internal and External Validity

It is not clear how the authors of the article controlled the threats to internal and external validity. However, it is stated that two researchers carried out data analysis and compared their results. A discussion was done in case there were variations in the results.

Research Methodology

A sociologist used a semi-structured interview guide to conduct face-to-face interviews. The guide contained information assessing the motives, perceptions, trust, and risk culture of diabetic patients regarding vaccination against seasonal flu. The patients were also required to respond to a questionnaire for the researchers to get the socio-demographic data of the patients. Although this was an effective data collection method, it is unclear whether the sociologist was trained before the interview.

Legal-Ethical Issues

Informed consent was obtained before the interviews were audiotaped. However, there is no evidence that institutional review board approval was obtained.

Data Analysis

Socio-demographic data were summarized using descriptive statistics. This was suitable since it allowed the researchers to determine the relationship between the motives, perceptions, trust, and risk culture of diabetic patients and vaccination against seasonal flu. Data analysis was done through the analysis of thematic content by two researchers.

Conclusion, Implications, and Recommendations

The authors of the article presented the results of the study objectively. However, the discussion of the results was not presented similarly. The authors instead adopted a different approach, which was not based on the research question. As described by the authors, one of the limitations of the study involved difficulty in including patients newly diagnosed with diabetes in the study. Despite this limitation, it was found that the motives, perceptions, trust, and risk culture of diabetic patients influence their vaccination against seasonal flu. It is thus recommended that research should be done on how to improve the of diabetic patients in health authorities.

Applicability to Nursing Practice

Applying the findings of this study in nursing practice would help improve the acceptability of vaccination against seasonal flu among diabetic patients. However, there are feasibility issues in the study since only a small sample of patients was included in the study. Moreover, it was difficult to include newly diagnosed patients in the study. This makes it difficult for the findings of the study to be generalized.

References

Alvarez, C. E., Clichici, L., Patricia Guzmán-Libreros, A., Navarro-Francés, M., & Ena, J. (2017). Survey of vaccination practices in patients with diabetes: A report examining patient and provider perceptions and barriers. Journal of Clinical and Translational Endocrinology, 9, 15–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcte.2017.06.002

Bocquier, A., Cortaredona, S., Fressard, L., Galtier, F., & Verger, P. (2020). Seasonal influenza vaccination among people with diabetes: influence of patients’ characteristics and healthcare use on behavioral changes. Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, 16(10), 2565–2572. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2020.1729628

Verger, P., Bocquier, A., Vergélys, C., Ward, J., & Peretti-Watel, P. (2018). Flu vaccination among patients with diabetes: Motives, perceptions, trust, and risk culture – A qualitative survey. BMC Public Health, 18(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5441-6

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