Statistics Exercise 28
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Source: Zalon, M. L. (2004). Correlates of recovery among older adults after major abdominal surgery. Nursing Research, 53 (2), 99–106.
Introduction
Zalon (2004) conducted a predictive correlational study to determine whether the independent variables of pain, depression, and fatigue were predictive of older adults’ return to functional status and self-perception of recovery after abdominal surgery. The study involved adults who were 60 years of age or older who had undergone major abdominal surgery. “Data were collected during hospitalization (n = 192), then 3–5 days (n = 141), 1 month (n = 132), and 3 months after discharge to home (n = 126) using the Brief Pain Inventory, the Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form, the Modified Fatigue Symptom Checklist, the Enforced Social Dependence Scale, and the Self-Perception of Recovery Scale” (Zalon, 2004, p. 99). The conclusions of the study were that pain, depression, and fatigue are predictive of the functional status and self-perception of recovery in older adults following surgery. Interventions are needed to reduce pain, depression, and fatigue to improve the postoperative recovery of older adults.
Research Study Results
Zalon (2004) conducted Pearson r correlations among the independent variables pain, depression, and fatigue, and with the dependent variables functional status and self-perception of recovery. These variables were correlated at hospitalization, 3–5 days post-discharge, 1 month post-discharge, and 3 months post-discharge, and the correlation values are presented in Table 2. It is assumed that alpha was set at 0.05 for this study.
SEE NEXT PAGE FOR TABLE 2.
Zalon, M.L. (2004). Correlates of recovery among older adults after major abdominal surgery. Nursing Research, 53 (2), p. 104.
Multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine if pain, depression, and fatigue were predictive of functional status and self-perception of recovery. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicated that pain, depression, and fatigue are significantly predictive of the patient’s self-perception of recovery and functional status. “Pain, depression, and fatigue explained 13.4% of the variation in functional status at 3 to 5 days, 30.8% at 1 month, and 29.1% at 3 months after discharge. These three factors also explain 5.6% of the variation in self-perception of recovery during hospitalization, 12.3% at 3 to 5 days, 33.2% at 1 month, and 16.1% at 3 months after discharge…. Pain, depression, and fatigue are important factors to consider in the provision of care to abdominal surgery patients with a relatively uncomplicated postoperative course. Specific interventions to reduce pain, depression, and fatigue need to be evaluated for their impact on the postoperative recovery of older adults” (Zalon, 2004, p. 99) (see Table 3).
1. Was multiple regression analysis the appropriate analysis technique to conduct in this study? Provide a rationale for your answer.
2. Which independent variable had the strongest correlation with self-perception of recovery at 1 month after discharge? Provide a rationale for your answer.
3. Were the independent variables pain, depression, and fatigue significantly correlated with self-perception of recovery at 1 month after discharge? Provide a rationale for your answer.
4. Did multicollinearity occur in this study? Provide a rationale for your answer.
5. Did the regression results indicate that pain, depression, and fatigue provided a greater prediction of self-perception of recovery at 1 month after discharge, or at 3–5 days post-discharge? Provide a rationale for your answer.
6. What was the percentage of variance explained by the regression analysis for self-perception of recovery at 1 month after discharge? Provide your calculations.
7. What was the percentage of variance explained by the regression analysis for functional status at 1 month after discharge? Provide your calculations.
8. Was the percentage of variance explained for self-perception of recovery lower than the percentage of variance explained for functional status at 1 month after discharge? Discuss the meaning of these results.
9. Discuss the multiple regression analysis results for self-perception of recovery following discharge. What do these results indicate for practice?
10. Are these results ready to be generalized to older adults after other types of surgery, such as joint replacement? Provide a rationale for your answer.
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