Week 8 Module Discussion Board: Healthcare Related Headline Analysis
Read the following article by Micheal Joyce: (see reference and link below for example)
Joyce. M. (2017). Headline vs. study: Bait and switch? HealthNewsReview.org. https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2017/01/headline-vs-study-bait-and-switch/
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Here are the instructions:
***Find a current article in which the Headline is misleading as described in the Joyce article***
***Discuss the article’s headline and information presented versus reality***
***Please point out in the paper where the article is misleading and why it is misleading***
For example, the article states, “Ultimately, 55 women gave birth prematurely. At first glance, there was no link between preterm birth and HPV infection. But when the researchers zeroed in on the type of HPV, the picture changed. Women with persistent HPV-16 or -18 infection were 3.7 times more likely to deliver early, versus women with no HPV infection in the first and third trimesters.”
So, there are many strains of HPV infection, but there are only two strains (16 and 18) that causes premature labor. *If I am understanding correcting*
***Follow the grading rubric***
Here is the topic of article that I chose. Also, the reference is below – you may clink on the link.
Topic: HPV Infection Tied to Higher Odds of Premature Delivery
Reference:
Norton, A. (2021). HPV Infection Tied to Higher Odds of Premature Delivery. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-09-20/hpv-infection-tied-to-higher-odds-of-premature-delivery.
| Discussion Board Initial Posting Rubric | |||||
| Criteria | Ratings | Pts | |||
| This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Relevance to the topic or problem |
|
20 pts | |||
| This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Insight and application of course concepts |
|
40 pts | |||
| This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Use of evidence and support |
|
25 pts | |||
| This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Grammar, Punctuation & APA |
|
15 pts | |||
| Total Points: 100 | |||||
Healthcare Related Headline Analysis Assignment
Headlines used in articles should reflect the contents of those pieces of publications. The headline of the article reads that “HPV infection tied to higher odds of premature delivery.” From the headline, the reader is informed that women infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) are at an increased risk of delivering prematurely. The information presented in the article does not truly expound what the headline states.
The article is misleading in a number of areas by documenting information that does not sufficiently tie HPV infection with higher odds of premature delivery. For instance, an extract from the article states “Researchers found that of 899 pregnant women, those infected with the strains throughout pregnancy were almost four times more likely to deliver prematurely as uninfected women were.” At the same time, Norton (2021) has written that “The findings do not prove cause and effect, said senior researcher Helen Trottier, an assistant professor at the University of Montreal in Canada. There could be other explanations for the link between high-risk HPV and preterm birth, according to Trottier.” Presenting these conflicting statements in an article whose headline has been written in a manner that confirms the link between HPV infection and premature delivery is inappropriate. It causes confusion to the reader who, from the title, might have wanted to read the article to find data that is linking HPV infection to preterm delivery.
Again, although the headline does not specify whether there are specific strains of HPV that cause preterm delivery, Norton (2021) have gone ahead in the article to explain that women who are infected with the two strains: 16 and 18 are the ones at high risk of giving birth prematurely. The author has stated “Ultimately, 55 women gave birth prematurely. At first glance, there was no link between preterm birth and HPV infection. But when the researchers zeroed in on the type of HPV, the picture changed. Women with persistent HPV-16 or -18 infection were 3.7 times more likely to deliver early, versus women with no HPV
infection in the first and third trimesters.” Whether there are specific strains that are linked with premature delivery ought to have come out clearly right from the headline.
Norton’s article does not report what real evidence indicates. The author was reporting the results of a study conducted by Niyibizi et al. (2021). Niyibizi et al. (2021) conducted a study to examine the link between HPV infection and preterm birth among pregnant women. The researcher recruited 899 pregnant women from 3 academic hospitals in Montreal, Québec, Canada. From the study findings, Niyibizi et al. (2021) reported that “persistent HPV-16/18 infection is associated with an increased risk of preterm birth, independent of cervical treatment (p. e2125308).” The headline of Norton’s article is different from what real research has reported.
Health practice should be guided by actions and interventions whose effectiveness has been confirmed through research. Therefore, healthcare professionals must be aware of headlines that might be catchy but articles do not report true information. Although Norton’s article has a catchy headline that might attract many readers interested in the topic, the headline is misleading because it does not truly reflect the contents. The article treats the reference data as unconfirmed findings yet real research that reported the findings clearly specified the strains of HPV that were linked with premature delivery. The article tells how important it is for healthcare professionals to use authorized and credible sources to obtain evidence to inform clinical decision-making.
References
Niyibizi, J., Mayrand, M. H., Audibert, F., Monnier, P., Brassard, P., Laporte, L., Lacaille, J., Zahreddine, M., Bédard, M. J., Girard, I., Francoeur, D., Carceller, A. M., Lacroix, J., Fraser, W., Coutlée, F., Trottier, H., & HERITAGE Study Group (2021). Association between human papillomavirus infection among pregnant women and preterm birth. JAMA Network Open, 4(9), e2125308. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.25308
Norton, A. (2021). HPV infection tied to higher odds of premature delivery. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-09-20/hpv-infection-tied-to-higher-odds-of-premature-delivery.