The clinical issue of interest that I am examining is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in youth and adolescents with mental health illnesses/disorders. I am researching this treatment for this population group to determine CBT’s effectiveness. According to the Mayo Clinic, cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of therapy that is also known as “talk therapy” (2019). The treatment consists of sessions with a psychologically prepared professional like a therapist or psychiatrist that are limited in number and structure (Mayo Clinic, 2019). The therapy aims to help the patient try to mentally reverse their thinking to have more of a positive response that allows them to cope appropriately and assist them in having practical communication skills. It is used to treat a wide variety of different mental illnesses and disorders. While some benefit, some do not. Therefore, I would like to delve more into the research of this treatment to determine its effectiveness within the youth-to-adolescent population and how it compares to other therapies in controlling symptoms and challenges over 12-15 weeks.
To do this research, I used multiple databases via the Walden Library; however, the most beneficial were APA PsycInfo and CINAHL & MEDLINE Combined Search. In the main search section, I typed “cognitive behavioral therapy.” Multiple search options were available. I used one that was prompted to cover more basis with different spelling or abbreviations that could have been used to widen my search. The prompted search option was “cognitive behavioral therapy cbt, or cognitive behavioural therapy.” This turned up over 25,000 articles and 20 pages of results. Therefore, I decided to refine the search by using Boolean connectors. Boolean connectors, like OR and AND, are very effective when searching topics because they widen the search so that the specific topic or topics will be included in the search results (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). I used the same search prompt and the “AND” operator to add “youth or adolescents or young people or teens or young adults” to define the interested population group. Using this search option produced almost 6,000 results. I then decided to take the search even further and limit it to full-text, peer-reviewed articles published between 2018-2022. This brought the results page down to only 1,500 results.
To have a more rigorous and practical search, it would be beneficial to utilize the database’s tools to define the hunt as much as possible. This can be done by using the Boolean connectors, limiting the search to a specific range of publication dates, and limiting the article results to peer-reviewed and full-text articles. This will help to maximize options by streamlining the results. Another way to search effectively for information is to form my PICOT question; I must utilize the Levels of Evidence. It helps to determine the quality of the evidence found from the least common or “highest level of evidence” or to the lowest level, which is the most common (Northern Arizona University, 2022).
References
Mayo Clinic (2019, March 16). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cognitive-behavioral-therapy/about/pac-20384610
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2018). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
Northern Arizona University. (2022, November 3). Research guides: Evidence-based practice: 2. align Levels of evidence. 2. Align: Levels of Evidence – Evidence-Based Practice – Research Guides at Northern Arizona University. https://libraryguides.nau.edu/c.php?g=665927&p=4682773
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