Service user empowerment is the idea that service users can get more control and responsibility over their health and healthcare decisions when provided with the education, skills and confidence necessary to have an active role in their own care and be able to make informed decisions, helping them become partners in the healthcare process.
For some conditions, NHS web pages provide lots of information and links regarding what the condition is and the possible treatment options available (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/), but when there isn’t enough information for you, it could be useful to read up on the latest research around your condition so you can learn more about the condition and the current treatment interventions available.
At first, research papers can seem over-complicated and can restrict access for non-academics to read and understand due to their dense structure and use of scientific terms. This blog is designed to help and empower the average person with little scientific background to be able to approach reading and understanding a research paper, so they can keep up to date with advances and updates in the latest chronic pain research and be empowered to learn more about their specific condition.
How to Search for Relevant Research Papers
There are numerous sites you can use to access research papers: such as Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, SageJournals, and ResearchGate. On these sites you can search the relevant key terms for the area you are interested in, such as the pain condition, treatments, interventions, pain management. You can then filter this by date published to only show the latest research.
However, not all research papers are available to read in full, in some cases only a summary is provided, known as an ‘Abstract’.
Research Paper Structure
Most research papers are broken up into different sections:
- Title
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- References
Title
The title is a single line that describes the research paper. This includes key words relevant to the research, which assist when searching for relevant papers, and it is usually the first thing you will see when looking for research papers.
Abstract
An abstract is a summary paragraph of the research paper. Its purpose is to give readers an overview of what the paper is about, so they can decide if it is worth reading in full. It includes a brief overview of each section of the paper so that you can follow the paper simply by reading the abstract and have a general idea of what the research paper includes.
Introduction
This section provides the background information and research into the relevant area. It explains why the present research is needed and the main questions the research aims to answer – this is known as the ‘hypotheses’.
Methods
This explains how the research was conducted, mentioning in detail how it was carried out and how the data were collected. This is designed to provide enough information for a reader to be able to replicate the study themselves.
Results
This section describes what was found in the research, and can include statistics, tables, and graphs to show this. The main types of research are qualitative or quantitative.
Qualitative Research involves collecting and analysing non-numerical data, such as text, audio, or video to understand participants’ experiences, views, attitudes and behaviours, in order to examine questions about a group of patients.
Quantitative Research involves collecting numerical data and analysing it using statistical tests to investigate a research question, identify relationships, compare groups, and make predictions. These statistical tests are used to see whether the findings are due to chance or if they are due to the study conditions. This probability level is usually 5% (0.05), so a significant result means there is only a 5% chance of the results being due to chance.
Discussion
The discussion section explains the researchers’ opinions on what they think the results mean and how they interpret the results with regards to the previous research in the area that was mentioned in the Introduction. This usually explains how the results compare to the research questions or predictions that were made, how the results compare to previous research, and what the future implications are for the current findings.
References
This section contains a list of all the previous research included in the paper and can be useful to find other research papers around a similar topic, but to also add further context to the previous research mentioned in the introduction section.
Further Considerations
Whilst research papers can be highly informative, it is still possible for ‘poor quality’ research to be published. If you are not experienced in research methods, it can be difficult to determine if a research article is good quality and from a highly reputable journal. This can be for reasons such as having only researched a small group, for not controlling the experimental conditions well enough where other factors could influence the results, or the analysis was not ‘robust’ enough. It is therefore important to aware that the articles you read may not have a big clinical impact. It is also important to know that not all results from studies will be used in health care settings. It takes a long time for a new treatment to be researched enough to know that it is 1) safe and 2) helps enough people.
Final Note
Hopefully this blog has helped to simplify research papers a little bit and can help you become more empowered over your healthcare, and help you to have a more active role in your care going forwards.
Matt Liptrot (Assistant Psychologist – Walton Centre Pain Management Programme)
Pain Management Programme 