Foreground and Background Information
The PICOT question focuses on the use of recreational activities to reduce the risk for stroke, hypertension, and cancer in overweight and obese persons aged between 18 and 40. This intervention will be compared and contrasted with various educational campaigns targeting behavioral and lifestyle changes. In order to complete the intended study successfully, background and foreground information will be gathered. Brennan, Brownson, and Orleans (2014) define “background information” as any form of data collected to answer general questions such as the nature of a specific condition or illness, causal factors, symptoms, and treatment regimes. This information can be obtained from publications such as books.
Foreground information, on the other hand, is any form of data that answers personalized questions (Kumanyika, Swank, Stachecki, Whitt-Glover, & Brennan, 2014). This means that the information is related to a specific population or patient (Raynor & Champagne, 2016). The major sources of foreground information include peer-reviewed articles, original publications, and synopses of personal studies. The composed PICOT question can be supported using available data from different sources. This information includes the etiology, pathophysiology, incidence, and prevalence of obesity (and related conditions).
Treatment options, therapies, and nutritional requirements for this condition are also available. This general data can be used to implement evidence-based care plans for patients with obesity. Observational researches can provide desirable information for designing appropriate clinical and health promotion actions (Raynor & Champagne, 2016). Such analyses can be obtained from the findings collected after implementing new programs to deal with obesity. This data can be used to support the proposed study.
Defining Internal and External Evidence
The targeted study will be supported using a powerful PICOT search approach. This means that both internal and external facts will be sought throughout the process. For this strategy, external evidence will include any kind of data or information obtained from detailed research. Any recent publication/article describing some of the best practices for dealing with obesity and overweight will be considered to offer sufficient external information (Dejonghe, Becker, Froboese, & Schaller, 2017).
This evidence will be used to come up with meaningful inferences for answering the PICOT question. Internal evidence will include any form of concept gained throughout the learning process. Insights and competencies acquired by caregivers whenever interacting with their patients will amount to internal data (Mackey & Bassendowski, 2017). These two sources of insights will result in the formulation of an evidence-based approach for addressing the health needs of obese patients.
External evidence will be obtained from different data banks and web-based search engines. Databanks are beneficial since they are easy to search and acquire information. They also contain information on a specific field or topic, thereby making them more reliable. However, most of these sources offer numerical data that might not support clinical intervention (Mackey & Bassendowski, 2017). Others offer diverse information that might be less beneficial.
Some good examples of databanks include the National Practitioner Databank and the NUGENOB (Nutrient-Gene Interactions in Human Obesity) Databank. Web-based search engines are advantageous since nurses can have access to many articles from different fields (Payne & Steakley, 2015). Such databases are user-friendly and easy to retrieve articles. The first weakness is that most of them require a subscription. The second one is that they are potential sources of inaccurate data.
References
Brennan, L. K., Brownson, R. C., & Orleans, C. T. (2014). Childhood obesity policy research and practice evidence for policy and environmental strategies. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 46(1), e1-e16. Web.
Dejonghe, L. A., Becker, J., Froboese, I., & Schaller, A. (2017). Long-term effectiveness of health coaching in rehabilitation and prevention: A systematic review. Patient Education and Counseling, 100(9), 1643-1653. Web.
Kumanyika, S. K., Swank, M., Stachecki, J., Whitt-Glover, M. C., & Brennan, L. K. (2014). Examining the evidence for policy and environmental strategies to prevent childhood obesity in black communities: New directions and next steps. Obesity Reviews, 15(1), 177-203. Web.
Mackey, A., & Bassendowski, S. (2017). The history and evidence-based practice in nursing education and practice. Journal of Professional Nursing, 33(1), 51-55. Web.
Payne, R., & Steakley, B. (2015). Establishing a primary nursing model of care. Nursing Management, 46(12), 11-13. Web.
Raynor, H. A., & Champagne, C. M. (2016). Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Interventions for the treatment of overweight and obesity in adults. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 116(1), 129-147. Web.