Critical appraisal tools have been developed to guide you through the process of evaluating many types of research. These tools are tailored to the specifics of a given research methodology. There are multiple tools available for you to use to critically appraise a research article. Two commonly-used tools for qualitative and quantitative research are the Research Critical Appraisal (RCA) tools from the Helen Fuld Institute of EBP and the Johns Hopkins appraisal tools. Additionally, your text used a set of criteria in order to critically appraise research (see Chapter 7, table 7.1). Whichever tool is used, the questions, or criteria, are very similar. For this course, we will use the Fuld Institute of EBP’s RCA tools that are linked in this week’s learning materials.

Chapter 7 of your text provides an example study and critical appraisal of an article titled: “Experiences of Care in Emergency Department Among a Sample of Homeless Male Veterans: A Qualitative Study” by Jillian J. Weber and colleagues. The article is presented in its entirety and followed by the appraisal.

Assignment Instructions

After reading chapters 5-7 of your LoBiondo-Wood and Haber text and reviewing the example in Chapter 7, use the correct RCA tool (linked in this week’s learning materials) to critically appraise Sharpe et al 2021 (PDF) .