IndexCitationArticle SummaryLevel of EvidenceCriticismApplicationReferencesCitationEmmerson, K.B., Harding, K.E., Lockwood, K.J., & Taylor, NF (2018., Video-supported home exercise programs and automated reminders for stroke patients: a qualitative analysis. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 65: 187-197. doi:10.1111/1440-1630.12461 Say No to Plagiarism Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned”? of the article In the article, the researchers examined the role of technology in home exercise programs prescribed for those who have suffered a stroke in the past year. The researchers approached this study in a qualitative manner by conducting in-depth interviews commonalities among the findings. The framework of this study was phenomenology. The researchers used it to get a sense of what the participants were thinking and experiencing during the study. The methods used by the researchers to collect data from participants were in-depth, semi-structured interviews. These interviews were conducted to explore patient perspectives on integrating technology into home exercise programs and see the results of doing so. The participants in this study were ten men with a history of stroke and who had upper extremity problems. Participants were chosen if they “had been admitted to a community rehabilitation program in a large metropolitan health service and had participated in the intervention group of a randomized, controlled trial comparing the impact of touch screen tablets to support home exercise programs for the upper limbs with usual care". post-stroke” (Emmerson, 2018). The duration of the study was four weeks. During this period, participants were given an iPad on which their home exercise program was filmed. This was done so that participants could refer to the videos if necessary. Participants were asked to observe themselves in the video and imitate the exercises while watching. After the four-week research period, interviews were conducted by the principal investigator in a private room at the healthcare facility. These interviews were recorded on a cell phone and later transcribed word for word. Each interview took less than 15 minutes to complete. Four themes were covered during the interview process: “prior use of technology, experiences of using technology for home exercises, impact of this technology on patient rehabilitation, and intentions for future use” (Emmerson, 2018). The interview responses were reviewed by two researchers who carefully examined the data and assigned codes to the sections of the text separately. These codes were provided to analyze and interpret the data in a meaningful way. After creating common themes from these codes, the researchers met to establish common themes across all of the data. Subsequently, a third researcher joined the analysis process and together they refined the coding list by discussing their disagreements. The researchers determined that eight participants felt the technology was helpful in their rehabilitation plan. Participants reported that using technology for their home exercise programs helped improve their overall recovery and also helped them recognize that they were making progress. The eight participants added that using technology made exercise programs more enjoyable because they could track their improvements. They also reported that this program themIt helped you feel stronger and increase the range of motion in your upper limbs. Using the tablet in the home exercise program also helped with motivation, ease of following instructions, better organization, and an easier way to review one's progress. Caregivers also reported that they appreciated using the tablet because it gave them a way to see what was happening during therapy sessions and helped hold participants accountable. Not all participants believed that using the tablets was beneficial. Two of the participants reported “feeling too old for the technology” and having difficulty navigating functions (Emmerson, 2018). Overall, the response to using technology with home exercise programs has been positive. All participants in this study had the ability to use technology for the purpose of the study. Most participants believed that using technology in their home exercise program was beneficial to their stroke recovery. This study suggests that touch screen tablets are more useful for providing information than the previous paper-based approach to home exercise programs. Researchers believe this is true because tablets offer multimodal learning opportunities through vision, hearing, and touch. Level of Evidence The level of evidence for this qualitative analysis article is a level 5 because it is a descriptive review of a qualitative study. The researchers examined the information collected from the participants on the specified topic. They used a thorough process to ensure there was minimal bias. They answered a specific question, which examined the effect of technology on home exercise programs, and drew conclusions from the data collected. Add source.CriticismThere are strengths and weaknesses of this article. One of the strengths of this study was to address everything that is important for qualitative analysis: credibility, transferability, reliability and confirmability. Credibility was addressed because the study used established qualitative research methods. The issue of familiarity was addressed because the organization used to bring participants together was well established. The principal investigator worked on the site used to collect participants. Transferability was demonstrated through contextual information collected about sites and participants. All this information had been provided to the research team. This study has been referenced and could easily be examined further. This research was reliable because in-depth information on the research design and analysis process was provided. Auditability was addressed as an audit trail was provided. There was a thorough and clear description of the steps taken to complete and review the data collected from the research. The limitations of the study were shown in the sample size used and participants used. The sample size used was small, numbering only ten participants. Having a larger sample from which to extract information would provide more information to researchers. Additionally, the study focused only on men's reaction to home exercise programs and technology. If this study were to be repeated, researchers would need to include women. This could determine whether similar results might occur and what differences might be found. Another limitation that may arise from this study is the fact that the interviews were conducted only by the principal researcher. This principal investigator also oversaw many of the interventions. That is=61584