Final Project Paper: Statistical Analysis Report in Mental Health

I am currently studying for my degree in Psychology Mental Health; therefore I chose the data set in scenario 3. I chose this area of study because I already got my AAS in Human Services with a concentration in Substance Abuse Counseling as well as a certification in Basic Drug and Alcohol Counseling and one in Human Services. I had planned on becoming a LCDC; however I ended up where I am now, and I run a residential facility for adolescent females who have mental health and behavioral disorders. So, I decided that a concentration in Mental Health would be more beneficial for my current career path as well as my future, by enabling me to be more diverse in my skills.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

This study focuses on forty adolescents who are inpatient for treatment because they have self-destructive behaviors. The 40 adolescents were divided into two groups, with one group receiving treatment (A) which is CBT and the other group (B) receiving REBT which is more confrontational in nature. The data presented contains the independent variable, Cognitive Behavioral Type of Treatment A and B, and the Dependent Variable which is the patient outcomes. The therapists used are trained professionals and they provide one on one session one and one-half hours per day, broken down into 45-minute sessions to each patient over a six-week period. The question that can be answered by the data is the effectiveness of each of the two therapies.

This study represents one that agrees with APA Ethics because the two groups were split into equal groups, with each adolescent having the same behaviors. All the patients were treated by trained and professional therapists for the same amount of time. More importantly, all the participants were aware that they were a part of the study and had signed consent forms, they were all told that they would be given the results at the conclusion of the study and they were all kept safe during the study by ensuring that behavioral issues were treated promptly without disruption to the rest of the patients.

When analyzing and reporting statistical results it would be important to ensure that the results were kept anonymous so that any private data would be kept confidential and would also not influence the results or reporting. It would be important that the person analyzing the results to be a third party or one who is not in direct contact with the patients on a regular basis to avoid any bias. It would also be important to word the results in a way that does not demean or label the individuals involved in the study and to ensure that given that the subjects of the study are all minors that proper parental consent is given as well as the patient's consent. In reporting the results I would ensure that the reports are free of bias information by keeping them anonymous and providing the results of the reports in such a way that there is no individual information in the results.

The sample size of my data is n=40, divided into two groups (Group A and Group B) of 20 participants. The size of the sample informs the analysis by providing the number of participants evaluated. This sample size is relatively small therefore there may be an increase in the margin of error as well as reporting the data could be skewed and rendered null because it isn't an accurate representation of the population.

The statistical procedure used to answer the research question would be a two-sample t-test, which would be the most appropriate test to determine whether the averages of the two are different enough for us to come to the conclusion that the difference in therapies led to the average difference (Go et al., 2013). To determine this they used CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) with one group and then compared it to the other group receiving REBT (Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy) both groups were of equal size and were all adolescents at the same inpatient clinic where they were being treated for self-destructive behaviors. The two-sample t-test is the most appropriate because the data set indicates that there are two groups and the research question is attempting to find out whether the outcome or performance of the groups is different when using a less challenging form of CBT in comparison to REBT which a more confrontational type of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Hypothesis: Whether One Mean is Higher

In an analysis of the data, Treatment A had a mean of 42.9 and a standard deviation of 17.764. Treatment B had a mean of 51.65 and a standard deviation of 18.282, which tells us that the mean for Treatment B which is the treatment involving the use of REBT is higher by 8.75, as represented by the histograms above.

Two sample T summary hypothesis test:

m1 : Mean of Population 1

m2 : Mean of Population 2

m1 - m2 : Difference between two means

H0 : m1 - m2 = 0

HA : m1 - m2 0

(Without pooled variances)

Hypothesis test results:

Difference Sample Diff. Std. Err. DF T-Stat P-value

m1 - m2 -8.75 5.7000346 37.968653 -1.5350784 0.1331

Sample Statistics:

Sample n Mean Std. Dev.

Population 1 20 42.9 17.764246

Population 2 20 51.65 18.282217

My null and alternative hypothesis is

H0 : m1 - m2 = 0

HA : m1 - m2 0

My hypothesis is that there is no difference in outcomes or performance between treatment A (which is CBT) and treatment B (REBT). My alternative hypothesis is that there is a difference in the outcome/performance of one of the treatment groups.

Results

H0: There is no difference in the performance or outcome between treatment A and Treatment B

H1: There is a difference in the performance or outcome between treatment A and Treatment B

From the hypothesis test result, the p-value value is 0.1331 which is greater than 0.05, in this case, we fail to reject the null hypothesis.

Therefore, there is no difference in the performance or outcome between treatment A and Treatment B. Using the T-statistics, / -1.5350784/ = 1.5350784

1.5350784 > 0.05, therefore we fail to reject the null hypothesis and as a result, the result is statistically significant.

Conclusion

From the data analysis, the conclusion that can be drawn is that there is no difference in outcomes or performance between treatment A (which is CBT) and treatment B (REBT). This means that either treatment A or treatment B can be used to cure the patient. The data analysis procedures involved comparing the means between the two variables, Treatment A and Treatment B. The resulting means were then used to test the hypothesis. A line graph showing the relationship between the two variables was also computed to better show the relationship. Some of the statistical procedures that can be used to test the hypothesis include correlation to show the relationship between the two variables.

Reference

Go, A. S., Mozaffarian, D., Roger, V. L., Benjamin, E. J., Berry, J. D., Blaha, M. J., ... & Fullerton, H. J. (2013). AHA statistical update. Circulation, 127, e62-e245.