Essays on “An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Living with Chronic Low Back Pain”

Analysis
The importance of the study
In actuality, the importance of the study can hardly be underestimated. In fact, the problem of the chronic low back pain affects a large number of people because many people lead a sedative lifestyle. Therefore, they are vulnerable to the risk of the development of the chronic low back pain. In addition, the rhythm of the life of people grows faster, whereas the psychological pressure increases consistently that may also provoke the development of the chronic low back pain. In such a situation, many people are still unaware of risk factors and possible consequences of the development of the chronic low back pain. Therefore, the article “An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Living with Chronic Low Back Pain” can be very helpful because it uncovers the actual situation in the modern health care system and society. To put it more precisely, health care professionals fail to provide patients with detailed information on possible risks and threats associated with the development of the chronic low back pain, whereas patients are often negligent in relation to their own health and postpone the call to a doctor, if they experience pain in the back. In such a context, the study reveals the importance of the early call to a doctor and diagnosing of the disease. Otherwise, patients may suffer from complications. Therefore, patients should be able to break the psychological barrier and pay more attention to their health, instead of ignoring pain in the back. In this regard, the awareness of patients is as important as the ability of health care professionals to deliver the detailed information about the chronic low back pain to patients.

The ethical aspects of the study
The study was conducted ethically because all participants were aware of their position and involvement in the study. In addition, the study was conducted under the supervision of health care professionals and patients could receive essential health care services. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that the study involved the approval process by an institutional review board which was comprised by the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, & the Department of Health. In such a way, the study was secure for the subjects and conducted under the supervision of health care professionals. In addition, participants of the study received essential health care services and medical safeguards were taken to minimize risks to the health of patients. The involvement of participants in the study was grounded on their understanding of their participation in the experiment that was very important from the ethical point of view. The study was conducted with respect to ethical norms and interests of participants of the study.

Strengths, limitations, and suggestions
The study has a number of strength. In this regard, it is possible to single out a wide range of participants, whose age varied from thirty nine to sixty six. In such a way, the study involved the diverse group of participants to explore the impact of psychological factors on patients’ perception of the chronic low back pain. In such a way, the researcher could explore different responses of patients of different age to one and the same problem. In this regard, the age of patients may be viewed as a dependent variable because the different age of patients could affect their response to the chronic low back pain. What is meant here is the fact that representatives of different generations could respond to their health problem in different ways. For instance, younger people could just ignore it, whereas older one could call to a doctor immediately.

In addition, participants of the study were interviewed before their attendance of a medically staffed chronic pain clinic and after that. In such a way, the researcher could compare different responses of participants before and after their attendance of the clinic. Therefore, the procedure of interviews was concise and effective in terms of the reliability of outcomes of the study because the researcher collected the information before and after the medical aid being delivered to patients.

In addition, it is important to remember that participants of the study remained under the supervision of health care professionals and they had access to health care services. They could receive health care services they needed any time they came prepared for such a decision. The assistance of health care professionals in the course of the study was essential but the researcher focused on psychological responses of participants on their health problem and further treatment.

The major limitation of the study is its focus on psychological effects and responses of patients to the chronic low back pain. In fact, the chronic low back pain can be diagnosed on the ground of physical damages that occur to tissues and physical sufferings of patients. Therefore, the study fails to reveal the full extent of physiological development of the chronic low back pain and physiological responses of patients to the progress of the diseases and treatment.



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