Victoria Buskey

DB #8

Initial Post

Program of Study: Ph.D. in Psychology, Self-Design

Social Problem: The impact of mental health on mortality rates in pediatric cancer patients
diagnosed with Leukemia.
The phenomenon I am interested in is how do pediatric Leukemia cancer patients with diagnosed
mental health progress based on if they are or are not receiving medical treatment for their
mental health. It is evident that one’s mental health can impact their ability to heal physically.
Quantitative Research Problem: The scholarly community does not know how mental health
impacts mortality rates in patients undergoing.

Quantitative Research Purpose: The purpose of this correlational quantitative study is to

compare the mortality rates of those in treatment and those not receiving mental health treatment.

Quantitative Research Question: To what extent does psychological wellbeing in regard to

mental health treatment impact mortality rates in pediatric leukemia patient’s vs those who do
not receive mental health treatment?

Theory or Conceptual Framework: The psychological well-being (PWB) framework best fits
this research question. The PWD theory proposes that early experience and underlying
personality create a platform for psychological wellbeing, but everyday experiences can help to
maintain a good level of PWB (if they are positive) or, if they are negative, reduce levels of
PWB, leading, in turn, to poor health outcomes (Dbdadmin, 2022). In the 2008 study by Chida &
Steptoe, results suggest that positive psychological well-being has a favorable effect on survival
in both healthy and diseased populations. This framework can help correlate how mortality is
impacted by mental factors in terminally ill patients.
Quantitative Research Design: The quantitative research design I have selected for this study is
a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent group design. This research design is defined
as a pretest posttest quasi-experimental design in which the responses of a treatment group and a
control group are compared on measures collected at the beginning and end of the research (APA
Dictionary of Psychology, n.d.).
Quantitative Sampling Strategy: The sampling strategy selected for my study is convenience
sampling with inclusive criteria. This sampling style is a non-probability sampling method where
participants are selected for inclusion due to their accessibility.
Quantitative Data Collection Method: The collection method primarily used will be
questionnaires. These can be distributed at various times throughout the study. Pre and post
surveys can help gauge how the patients progress with their psychological wellbeing during their
treatment. Participants will be asked a series of questions to determine how mental health
treatment impacts their overall treatment. The none treated group will be asked the same
questions during their cancer treatment.
Variables: In my research the treatment would serve as the independent variable (between
group) as I will compare treatment vs no treatment for the patients. The dependent variables will
be mortality rates and psychological wellbeing. The level of measurement to be used is nominal
as there are two or more categories with no intrinsic ordering of the categories.
Statistical Analysis: Since I am using a correlational quantitative design, the statistical analysis I
will use is the paired T-test statistical analysis. According to Libretexts (2022), paired t-test are
used when you have multiple pairs of observations with one observation for each combination of
nominal variables. This is the best statistical analysis for my research question as I want to show
the strong relationship between my two dependent measures with groups.
Social Change: Potential findings from this study can encourage positive social change by
recognizing the factors which contribute to mortality rates in pediatric cancer patients with a
mental health diagnosis. By recognizing these factors, we are able to help find the correct mental
support the pediatric patients need. Findings can help bring to establish intervention plans once a
child is diagnosed with pediatric leukemia. Support systems and mental health treatment can be
established to help increase the patient’s psychological wellbeing. With the help of these support
systems along with mental health treatment this could lead to lower mortality rates, enhanced
quality of life, and an increase in awareness on the topic.

Qualitative Research Problem: The scholarly community does not know how patients
undergoing chemotherapy internalize their medical prognosis.
Qualitative Research Purpose: The purpose of this case study qualitative approach study is to
discover how pediatric cancer patients at St. Jude Children’s Hospital emotionally respond to
receiving a prognosis of life. At this stage in the research, the emotional response to a life
prognosis will be generally defined as psychological wellbeing. The ARC framework will be
used to evaluate adolescents who experience complex medical trauma and their caregiving
system.
Qualitative Research Question: What are the lived experiences of a cancer prognosis for
adolescents.
Theory or Conceptual Framework: The framework guiding this research is the Attachment,
Regulation, and Competency (ARC) framework. This framework is used to evaluate children and
adolescents who have experienced complex trauma, along with their caregiving systems. Due to
the traumatic nature of a terminal disease this framework will serve to create an empirically
based conceptual framework.
Qualitative Research Design: The research design selected for this qualitative study is
phenomenological as it describes the lived experiences of individuals (Creswell, J.W. &
Creswell, J.D., 2018).
Qualitative Sampling Strategy: the sampling strategy selected for this qualitative design is
qualitative interviews. I think semi structured interviews will be the best option as it allows for
structured determined set of open questions but also gives participants the opportunity to further
explain their experiences.
Qualitative Data Collection Method: Qualitative interviews These interviews will consist of
open-ended questions to collect the opinion of participants. According to Creswell & Creswell
(2018), these interviews involve unstructured and generally open-ended questions that are few in
number and intended to elicit views and opinions from the participants.
Mixed Methods Design: The mixed method design I have selected for my research is
convergent design. I selected this design method as it allows for me to analyze and evaluate both
the qualitative and quantitative data simultaneously. This will help determine whether or not the
data confirms or disconfirms each other. Utilizing this method will help to correlate how the
PWB framework in cancer patients correlates with mortality rates. The PWB framework will
serve as the dependent variable for the quantitative data and to explore the meaning of the cancer
prognosis.

References

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (n.d.). https://dictionary.apa.org/nonequivalent-groups-design

Dbdadmin. (2022). What is psychological wellbeing? Robertson Cooper.

https://www.robertsoncooper.com/blog/what-is-psychological-wellbeing/#:~:text=In

%20summary%2C%20PWB%20theory%20proposes,turn%2C%20to%20poor%20health

%20outcomesLinks to an external site..

Chida, Y., & Steptoe, A. (2008). Positive psychological well-being and mortality: a quantitative

review of prospective observational studies. Psychosomatic medicine.

https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e31818105baLinks to an external site.

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed

methods approaches (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Libretexts. (2022). 4.11: Paired T–test. Statistics LibreTexts.

https://stats.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Applied_Statistics/Biological_Statistics_(McDona

ld)/04%3A_Tests_for_One_Measurement_Variable/4.11%3A_Paired_tTest#:~:text=To

%20use%20the%20paired%20t,have%20multiple%20pairs%20of%20observations.