Running head: SUBSTANCE CONTINUATION AND DISCONTINUATION
A Student Research Study Critique:
Reasons for substance use continuation and discontinuation during pregnancy
Patricia Wright
Athabasca University
Nursing 328
December 11, 2019

2
SUBSTANCE CONTINUATION AND DISCONTINUATION
Overall Summary
This is a well written and interesting report of a study on a significant topic.
Substance
use in pregnancy is associated with physical and psychosocial harm to both the mother and child.
(Latuskie et al., 2019) Many women continue to use substances throughout pregnancy despite
advances in treatments and research. (Finnegan, 2013) This study uses a qualitative method to
attempt to understand women’s experiences during pregnancy related to substance abuse and the
reasons why they continue or discontinue to use substances.
The use of focus groups for women
who were already active members at Breaking the Cycle (BTC) in Toronto was useful for
collecting the data as the women were already familiar with this type of setting and using current
employees in the groups helped the women to be comfortable discussing personal issues more
freely.
Title
This title is appropriate for the study and was effective on describing key elements of the
study.
It also conveyed that this would be a qualitative study.
I would not add or change the title
at all.
Abstract
The abstract is written mas an informative abstract with subheadings covering
background, purpose, methods, results and conclusions.
The background is short and to the point
for the study.
It informs the reader of the reasons for the study but does not go into deep
explanations.
The purpose of the study was stated clearly and is easy to understand.
