The article Effects of Coping Skills Training in School-age Children with Type 1 Diabetes by Grey et al. sought to determine the efficacy of two interventions on the management of TID by school-going children. Using a stress adaptation model, the authors wanted to determine the physiological and psychosocial adaptation degree of the sample to the stress of living with type 1 diabetes. Under the hypothesis that coping strategy training influences people’s response, context, and adaptation, Grey et al. ( 2009) purposed to “determine the effect of group-based CST for school-aged children with T1D and their parents compared to an attention-control group receiving supplemental general diabetes education (GE) over a period of a year on children’s metabolic control, QOL, depressive symptoms, coping, self-efficacy, and family functioning at 12-month follow-up” (p. 4 ) using a randomized clinical trial. In order to accomplish this, the authors created a two group experimental design whose sample consisted of children between the ages of 8-12 and who had insulin resistance. They initially targeted a sample size of 100 children who would become subjected to coping skills training and group education as the intervention methods for the study. Using SAS 9.2 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC), Grey et al. ( 2009) analyzed the data collected on metabolic control, child quality of life (QOL), child depressive symptoms, coping, self-efficacy, and family function variables.
The results of the study revealed non-significant outcomes as they did not add any new concept to the existing literature on the subject. However, the authors noticed that both group education and coping skills training led to the improvement of the group over a period. Consequently, the participants demonstrated enhanced impact of diabetes, fewer depressive symptoms, better T1D self-efficacy, improved diabetes coping, and substantially reduced parental control. Thus, the authors proffered that the findings implied that the group-based strategy possessed a better intervention outcome for the sample in question. Having said that, the study also revealed that CST intervention did not produce the desired effect of enhanced metabolic control, family functioning, self-efficacy, coping, depressive symptoms and quality of life, in contrast to the study’s hypothesis. In conclusion, the study recommends future research to examine the efficacy of CST on subjects of racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity in addition to children of elevated HbA1c levels as well as those with multifarious family functioning and psychosocial adjustment.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Study
The researchers postulate that they employed the usage of a randomized trial approach for the study. During the study, the authors used trained research assistants to collect data at baseline, and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after randomization. Thus, the researchers describe the data collection method in sufficient details as expected of a randomized trial study. Indeed, the design and sample of the study received considerable attention from the researchers. As evidenced from the article, minimization of bias occurred in the study since the research assistants became blinded to the group assignments. Pursuant to numerous studies on the significance of blindness in randomized control trail, the elimination of bias in a study makes it an important aspect of RCT and gives it the edge over other methodologies in research studies. In other words, the credibility of the study received a major boost because of the fact that the study design had some level of blindness.
Moreover, the study design utilized in the present article allowed for the existence of a controlled group allocation for both the CST and GE samples. As a consequence, the study enhanced the similarity of baseline features since the participants of the study possessed similar baseline features such as similar ages (8-12 years), suffering from T1D and underwent insulin treatment for at least 6 months, as well as free of other significant health conditions. The existence of these commonalities in the study sample allowed the researchers to establish a basis for their statistical hypothesis. Therefore, the study design elected for this research enabled the research to
Moreover, the approach adopted by the researchers in writing the discussion has consistency with the characteristics of a good research article. Mack (2018) postulates that a discussion section offers readers specific guidance regarding the accomplishments of the study, its scientific significance, as well as the next course of action that researchers should undertake. This article started its d
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