2008-12-30T15:35:00.002+08:00

The topic to our project:

Is a person's blood pressure before exercise related to his/her blood pressure after exercise?

Target population

Participants must be male
Participants can be of any race
Age between 20-30
Participants are selected by cluster sampling of external organization's soccer team

2008-12-30T11:30:00.061+08:00

Null hypothesis: There is no relationship between blood pressure level reading before exercise and blood pressure reading after exercise.

Research hypothesis: There is a positive significant relationship between blood pressure reading before exercise and blood pressure reading after exercise.

Methodology
Date: 21 December 2008
Time: 1600hours
Venue: Singapore Khalsa Association
No. of subjects: random selection of 30 soccer players

Step 1: Ethical Consideration

We obtained the subjects through informed consent:

we informed them
~ of the overview and purpose of our research
~ that they have the right to refuse to partcipate in the research
~ how we will be conducting it
~ that we will be taking pictures of them during the procedure (before and after exercise)
~ that their photos will be published on our blog decorated for this project
~ that only the lecturers and students related to this module will be able
to view the blog.

Step 2: Operationalisation

Equipments required:
~Sphygmomanometer (blood pressure machine)
~Stethoscope
~Alcohol swap (for hygiene and infection control purposes)
~Receptable bag (to dispose used alcohol swaps)

The table set up with our equipments!

Blood pressure taking booth!

SUBGROUP 1!!

Step 3: Data Collection

A) We obtained their initials to their names (to keep their identity confidential), age, previous blood pressure readings (if they have ever get theirs checked before ) as a baseline, check on their current health status and lifestyle e g: fever ( can cause your blood pressure reading to be lower than usual ), cardiac problems/asthma ( can affect blood pressure readings upon exertion ), smokers/drinkers ( may cause blood pressure readings to be high even before exercise commences)

B) We ensured that their left arm is free from any disabilities or injuries as the blood pressure readings will be taken on ONLY the left arm. This is because the left arm is the recommended site for attaining the most accurate reading as it is the nearest arm to the heart. We also made sure that their left wrists are free of watches and they are at rest.

C) Only one member of our group took the readings for all the subjects. This is to maintain consistency and to attain optimal accuracy of the blood pressure reading takings.

D) After obtaining each subject’s first reading, they were then immediately (without waiting for the rest) asked to run at their normal pre-training speed around the field twice which amounted to a distance of 800 meters. One member of the group kept track of each subject’s distance covered (to ensure that all subjects ran the designed 800 meters which is 2 rounds around the track) and their approximate speed to ensure that it is consistent with the rest.

E) Immediately after the completion of their 2 rounds, they were then ushered by another of our group member, to the blood pressure taking booth to have their blood pressure readings taken, without any rest period.

Measures were taken to ensure that the rest period was kept to a minimum.

E g: Person A ran immediately after 1st blood pressure reading has been taken, without waiting for Person B. Person B went for run after taking 1st blood pressure reading.

Person A returned after running and immediately had the 2nd blood pressure reading taken. By the time Person A was done with 2nd blood pressure reading, Person B had finished running and was just in time for 2nd blood pressure reading to be taken, hence their rest period was kept to a minimum.

Photo collage of our subjects and our group members in action

Data collection!

Ensure that sleeve is not in the way in order to get accurate result

Correct hand positioning!
Wrist is free of watch or any accessories (E g: bangle for Sikhs)

Del (our group member who is one of the subjects) in action!

Correct technique. Left arm resting on the table with blood pressure cuff placed at the heart level when subject is seated upright.

“Are you alright?”

Subjects’ well-being was also taken into consideration by ensuring that they are well after the run. That is what nursing is all about. We focus on the general well-being of each individual and not just concentrating on completing our tasks.

Wrong sitting position.

Subject was slouching; hence blood pressure cuff was slightly above the level of the heart.

Post exercise! TIRED!!

Del back from 2 rounds around the field

“Breathe in through your nose; breathe out through your mouth”

Subjects were also taught on breathing techniques to prevent

hyperventilation.

Subjects in action!
Congratulations for the win against SMU!

Wowww!!

Del after half time!!

STATISTICS ANALYSIS

Final Data collected!

Our research question is asking for relationship between BP before exercise and after exercise, which means correlation. And our variables are both scale data, so we are going to use Pearson’s R to analyze the data.

After running SPSS, and use Pearson’s R, we get dolling results.

Conclusion

From the crosstabs of systolic BP we can see, A Pearson’s r correlation coefficient of 0.602 indicates a moderately strong relationship between systolic BP before exercise and after exercise.
From the crosstabs of diastolic BP we can see, A Pearson’s r correlation coefficient of 0.266 indicates a moderately weak relationship between diastolic BP before exercise and after exercise.

RESULTS

There is a positive, moderate strong and significant association between before exercise and after exercises systolic BP. (r=0.602, p<0.05, n="30)
There is a positive, moderate weak and significant relationship between before exercise diastolic BP and after exercise diastolic BP. (r=0.266, p<0.05, n="30)

What factors can probably affect our results?

Two of our participants have fever at that time
One of our participants may have heart problem, according to what we listen from BP taking.
At different age, the blood pressure range may be affected by a lot extraneous factors.

Statistic