MediYoga for Self-management of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Article Critique
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Article Critique
1 Name(s) of the author(s)
Maria Wahlström, Mårten Rosenqvist, Jörgen Medin, Ulla Walfridsson, Monica Rydell-Karlsson
2 Title of article
MediYoga as a part of a self-management programme among patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation–a randomised study
3 Title of journal, volume number, date, month and page numbers, doi number
European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, Volume 19, Issue 1, 1 January 2020, Pages 74–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474515119871796
Introduction
The European Society of Cardiology published this article in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing in 2020. The article was authored and reviewed by different scholars affiliated with different institutions in Sweden. The study was designed to determine if MediYoga could be used as part of a self-management program for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation patients. The researchers declared no conflict of interest and also acknowledged the source of their funding for the research.
Review of Introduction
The introduction was written to give an overview of the topic, especially the key elements of the research; paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and MediYoga. However, the authors left out some important information necessary in any scientific research study. The scientific research process requires researchers to have a problem statement, research questions, hypotheses, and purpose—these seemingly simple subsections in the introduction help introduce and justify the research to the reader. The researchers left out these key subsections, i.e., problem statement, research questions, research hypotheses, and purpose. However, they included the aim of the research, which can be summed as a study to evaluate the effects of MY (MediYoga) on health-related quality of life, BP (Blood Pressure), HR (heart rate), and NT-proBNP on patients with PAF (Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation). While the objective is very clear, the introduction also needs to include the subsections mentioned above that inform the reader of the reasons for the research.
Review of Literature
In the scientific research process, the literature review is one of the most important steps. It helps to identify gaps in knowledge, open questions left by other researchers, and ways of conducting research. For these reasons, the section must be included in any research study. However, the researchers of this study left out this important section. It should have been included between the introduction and the methodology. However, the researchers seemed to have done some research into the subject. They have included a long list of bibliographic entries that have intext citations in the article. The bibliography has 47 entries that show extensive research into the subject. All the bibliographic entries are from peer-reviewed sources. This forms a solid foundation for the article since credible sources support it. Nevertheless, most of the entries are outdated. Out of the 47 bibliographic entries, only 15 were published in the last five years of the article’s publication. This means that majority of the entries are outdated. In the medical field, sources older than five years are considered outdated and should not make the majority of the research sources.
Review of Conceptual and Theoretical framework
The researchers did not include a theoretical and conceptual framework. It should have been included in this research to connect the study to existing knowledge in the subject. It would also inform the researchers of research methods, among other things.
Review of Methodology
The researchers included an extensive description of the methodology. It detailed how the researchers chose the study population and how they arrived at the study sample. The researchers detailed how they controlled for other variables such as diabetes mellitus, untreated hypothyroidism, difficulty understanding the Swedish language, etc., who were excluded from the research. Eventually, a study sample of 152 participants was eligible for the research though only 138...