OUTLINE OF ANALYTICAL REVIEW: AN EXAMPLE TOPIC: Health

EXAMPLE

OUTLINE OF ANALYTICAL REVIEW: AN EXAMPLE

TOPIC: Health Status in the United States: Problem with Access or Problem with

Health Behaviors?

Executive Summary or Abstract: This section states the central question, essential

findings, conclusions and recommendations you derived from your review of the

literature in 200 words or less. Write this section last, but place it first, before the body of

the paper. If you need practice in writing an abstract, I can help you with that. You will

find abstracts in just about any professional journal article.

PROBLEM STATEMENT: In this section, you will describe the significance of the

problem and get the reader interested in the topic. In abbreviation, this could look as

follows:

In spite of our tremendous wealth, the United States has higher mortality and morbidity

rates from numerous diseases than do other industrialized countries. There are many

theories about why this is the case. One of the most common explanations is that all

citizens do not have access to quality health care. Another, alternative, explanation is that

as a nation we have terrible health behaviors and habits.

BACKGROUND: In this section, you try to introduce some potential reasons that

may, or may not explain the problem. This is where you will use data and statistics

that you get from sources like the CDC or Kaiser Family Foundation. You will need to

use citations for each fact you use. The more data you have to support your argument that

we have poor health status, the better.

WORKING DIAGNOSIS: The purpose is to provide some order and focus to your

research; the statement sets some priority among competing ideas. It is your best

guess about what you think the causes or solutions of the problem are. It is similar

to a hypothesis. A working diagnosis may read:

Our poor health status as a nation is a direct result of our poor health behaviors and

habits. This is more significant in causing increased morbidity and mortality than access

to health care.

FRAMEWORK/METHOD OF ANALYSIS: This is where you would describe the

theoretical approach or conceptual framework you are using. For instance, you may base

your paper on classical economic theory, the Health Belief Model, the Andersen Model,

or other health related theories. There may not be a specific theory that you want to use.

This lack of framework should not trouble you too much. In the absence of a theoretical

approach, your basic method of analysis is the review of conflicting evidence on a topic.

Then, by logical thinking, you are supposed to come to conclusions that are productive

for managerial practice or interesting for researchers. What you should include here is

EXAMPLE

the search engine you used (e.g., Ovid, Pub Med, etc.), the years you searched and the

keywords you used. You may also include other searching techniques you used, such as a

tree search of articles found in the reference section of other articles.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (LITERATURE REVIEW): This section will lead

you to the UAMS library and to online search engines like PubMed, Ovid,

GoogleScholar , etc. For the example described here, I would need to look under

keywords such as: “Health Behaviors, United States”, “Access to health care”,

“Morbidity causes, U.S.”, “Mortality causes, U.S.”, and so on. Be prepared to find more

papers than you want, or fewer than you need, if you selected the wrong key words. If

you need help finding key words for your topic, I can give you some ideas.

Abstract, or download those articles that you think are most pertinent for your

topic. Read abstract and conclusions first, then check subheadings. Do not worry if

you cannot understand everything in the method, or theoretical sections. You will

learn these as you go through the program.

Summarize the articles you have selected, being sure to cite all material used. You want

to have articles from both sides of the issue…..in this case, articles finding that health

behaviors are important and articles finding that access to health care is important.

RESTATEMENT OF WORKING DIAGNOSIS (HYPOTHESIS): The purpose is to

come to a reasonable conclusion of your literature review. You may want to write a

paragraph of conclusions before writing the revised working diagnosis. You may

find that you still believe your original working diagnosis is true, or you may disagree it

or modify it. The revised working diagnosis may read as follows:

Restriction of access to highly expensive medical technology and preventive care

has contributed to the poor health status of many in the United States. While

health behaviors play a part, access is also important. Furthermore, there are

disparities in access to care among different demographic groups. In order to

improve health status of Americans, we will need to take a two pronged approach,

improving health behaviors while guaranteeing equal access to all citizens.

MANAGERIAL/POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS: The purpose of this section is

to present some practical suggestions which would help others like you

(administrators, policy makers, public health professionals) to do something about

the problem.

For instance, one recommendation may be to provide health behavior education for

patients with chronic diseases. Another might be to find ways to increase access to care

for rural populations with no health insurance. Please, do not recommend that another

study should be done unless you are willing to put forth a specific proposal. Please note

that it is not customary to use more than a couple citations in this section; it should be

your own thoughts.

EXAMPLE

REFERENCES: A minimum of 15 sources are required; that includes research articles

and chapters in topic-related books, or collections. Use complete citations following APA

style, or the referencing style of prominent health care related journals such as The

Journal of the American Medical Association (http://jama.ama-

assn.org/info/auinst_req.html), The New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal

of Public Health. Remember, 15 well-digested references are better than 30 undigested

sources.

APPENDICES: It is unlikely that you will need an appendix in a literature review, but

there may be exceptions.

Editing: Please READ your paper thoroughly for grammar and spelling errors that

Spellcheck does not catch. Please number all pages except the cover sheet. Page

number 1 should be the first page of text.