Fix It Dr. Inyang Is a Counselor Whose Colleagues Have Gotten Positive

question 34

Essay

Fix It
Dr. Inyang is a counselor whose colleagues have gotten positive results with music therapy. Next week he is beginning a new grief therapy group and decides it is the perfect time to test whether music helps people progress through the grieving process. There are five patients in the group. At the beginning of all 9 sessions Dr. Inyang has each complete the Grief Questionnaire. This questionnaire indicates how much grief one is experiencing, with higher scores indicating more grieving. During the first three sessions Dr. Inyang conducts the group without music, as he has typically done in the past. During the next three sessions he plays calming music during the hour-long session. During the last three weeks Dr. Inyang does not play music. Dr. Inyang uses the results of the Grief Questionnaire obtained during the last session to develop a long-term care plan for each patient. He is surprised to find so many of his patients experiencing high levels of grief despite the fact that almost everyone reported less grief during the fourth through sixth weeks of treatment. This leads Dr. Inyang to question the claims of his colleagues who swear music is therapeutically beneficial.
Identify and describe the design of this study. Do you agree with Dr. Inyang that there is not a causal relationship between music and grief reduction? How and why would you change the design?

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Definitions:

Civil Rights Lawsuit

A legal action initiated to challenge violations of civil rights, which are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in a society.

Service of Process

The procedure by which a party to a lawsuit gives an appropriate notice of initial legal action to another party, court, or administrative body in an effort to exercise jurisdiction over that person.

Diversity of Citizenship

A term used in legal jurisdiction to describe cases in which opposing parties are residents of different states or countries, often used in federal court cases.

Nicastro v. McIntyre

A Supreme Court case that deals with jurisdiction issues, specifically whether a foreign manufacturer can be sued in a U.S. state court for injuries caused by its products in that state.