Analysis of an Empirical Research Journal Article

Review & Analysis of an Empirical Research Journal Article
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Review & Analysis of an Empirical Research Journal Article
A Article
Question 1: an appropriate article for review
Fenko, A., & Loock, C. (2014). The Influence of Ambient Scent and Music on Patients' Anxiety in a Waiting Room of a Plastic Surgeon. Health Environments Research & Design Journal (HERD) (Vendome Group LLC), 7(3), 38-59.
This is an empirical peer-reviewed journal article. The waiting environment plays a vital role in patients’ healthcare experience given that patients usually spend a long time period waiting for the physician, at times even more time compared to the actual duration of the appointment with the doctor. It is important to invest in the physical attractiveness of patient waiting areas and the specific physical elements which contribute to positive attributions related to quality of care need to be identified (Fenko & Loock, 2014). In their study, the authors of the present study investigated the possibilities of improving the experience of patients inside a plastic surgeon’s waiting room through the use of ambient environmental stimuli – music and scent. As such, the topic of the selected article is health-related. Published in the year 2014, the article is no more than 5 years old.
Question 2: concise and accurate summary of the article
Today, more and more people are opting to have plastic surgeries. Every year, reconstructive and plastic surgeons assist patients with burn injuries, animal bites, disfiguring wounds, as well as congenital malformations for instance cleft palate and cleft lip. They also help patients who require reconstruction following surgical operation for chronic conditions such as malignancy. Cosmetic plastic surgery encompasses surgical operations which reshape normal body structures so as to improve the patient’s self-esteem and appearance (Fenko & Loock, 2014). Waiting for a scheduled time with a surgeon could greatly increase the anxiety of a patient. Making the waiting time prior to an appointment more pleasant and decreasing the anxiety of the patient is of great importance. Ambient environmental stimuli could influence the behaviour, cognition and mood of people. Fenko and Loock (2014) performed the experimental study for the purpose of testing whether or not ambient scent and music could be helpful in reducing anxiety of patients.
Question 3: Type of research conducted in the article
The study is an experimental study. In this study, Fenko and Loock (2014) carried out a field experiment with two (scent absent versus scent present) by two (music absent versus music present) between-subjects design with plastic surgeon patients. An experiment is understood as a study wherein a program, procedure, or treatment is deliberately introduced and an outcome or result is introduced. Experiments are tests under controlled conditions done to examine the validity of a hypothesis, to illustrate a known truth, or to establish the effectiveness of something that has not been tried yet. The identified study has characteristics which imply that it is an experimental study. For instance, participants were chosen randomly. Moreover, there were experimental groups and a control group. Furthermore, several variables are manipulated in order to establish how they affect a dependent variable. Specifically, Fenko and Loock (2014) investigated the effects of relaxing music and scent used in combination and separately on patient’s anxiety level, evaluation of the waiting environment, as well as perceived waiting time.
Question 4: key elements are included
This peer-reviewed journal article has a number of key elements. Appropriate title: this is put at the top of the article on the first page. The title is as follows: The Influence of Ambient Scent and Music on Patient’s Anxiety in a Waiting Room of a Plastic Surgeon. Abstract and key terms: The article has a terse abstract which briefly describes the objective, background, methods, results, and conclusions of the study. The abstract also has 5 keywords. Introduction: The article has an introduction which introduces the reader to the topic and subject matter at hand. The introduction clearly describes the aim of the study and what the authors were interested in. Purpose: the purpose of the study is clearly described; it is to investigate the influence of ambient music and scent, as well as their combination on the anxiety of patients inside a plastic surgeon’s waiting room.
Rationale: according to Fenko and Loock (2014), ambient environmental stimuli could influence the behaviour, cognition, and mood of people. Their study was carried out to find out if ambient music and scent could be useful in lowering the anxiety of patients. Research question/hypothesis: can ambient music and scent help to reduce the anxiety of patients who are waiting to undergo plastic surgery? Literature review: Fenko and Loock (2014) examined several previous studies on the subject matter. The authors noted that as an environmental feature, scent has been studied widely within the context of consumer behaviour. The scent of lavender as opposed to the scent of lemon, for example, has been proven to have a relaxing effect on consumers and increased the customers’ length of stay inside the eatery. All in all, over 20 previous studies were examined by the authors in their review of existing literature.
Participants/subjects: in the study, the subjects included patients of Dr. Abdul Yousef, a plastic surgeon at the Elizabeth Hospital. The patients were suffering largely from functional problems with their hands (hand surgery) as well as aesthetic concerns (face and breast surgery). The participants took part voluntarily and they provided written permission to utilize their data. The authors included 117 patients in total in their study; women were 89 and men were 28. The participants’ age ranged from 14 years to 88, with 47.92 years being the mean age (Fenko & Loock, 2014). There were 35 repeat visitors (29.9 percent) and 82 first-time visitors (70.1 percent). Regarding the type of concern, 68 of patients or 58.1 percent had a functional concern while 49 patients or 41.9 percent had an aesthetic concern (Fenko & Loock, 2014).
Results: Fenko and Loock (2014) found that when each of the environmental factors are used separately – that is, scent and music – they substantially decreased the level of anxiety of the patient in comparison to the control condition. Even so, the combination of music and scent was ineffective in reducing the levels of anxiety. Discussion: the article has a comprehensive discussion section. The findings indicate that ambient music and scent could be helpful in reducing anxiety of the patients who are waiting to undergo plastic surgery. Nonetheless, these two environmental factors have to be utilized cautiously. This is because the addition of more ambient elements to the environment can increase the patient’s arousal level and in so doing increase their levels of anxiety (Fenko & Loock, 2014). References: a total of 75 references were used in this article. The references are from the year 1982 to 2012, but there is one from 1906 and most were published in past 8 years. All the reference materials are relevant to the topic of the study.
B Research Overview
Question 5: hypothesis and research question
The research questions are: what are the effects of relaxing music and scent utilized in combination and separately on patient’s anxiety level, perceived waiting time, and evaluation of the waiting env...