{"id":7157,"date":"2025-06-28T17:06:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T17:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T05:09:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T05:09:01","slug":"determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/","title":{"rendered":"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published as: Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Original Article Link: Read Original Article<\/a><\/p>\n

Download PDF: Click Here to Download PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

Abstract<\/h2>\n

Objective: To aid nurses\u2019 understanding of effect size utilisation in clinical and research contexts.
\nDesign and data sources: Methodological discussion paper that is based on the author\u2019s experiences as a clinician and researcher and is supported by literature.
\nPrimary arguments: Patient change is a key consideration for clinical nurses and nurse researchers. Nurses routinely use measurement instruments to identify and quantify such change informing intervention outcomes, clinical decision-making, and health research conclusions. Whether improvement or deterioration, patient change should be operationalised through the magnitude of change (i.e., effect size). Effect sizes relative to the context of change (clinical vs empirical) and the reliability of the instruments used are important considerations here. However, despite discourse on the utilisation of effect sizes in health, aspects of effect sizes can be poorly understood, misapplied or overlooked. Furthermore, nurse researchers may default to Cohen\u2019s d for use in power analysis and results reporting where they should be considering an effect size derived from other methods in the first instance. In part, this is due to the literature surrounding aspects of effect size being inherently complex, impacting on nurse and nurse researchers\u2019 capacity to acquire a thorough understanding of the topic.
\nConclusions: Effect size in health can be particularly complex. Nevertheless, nurses and nurse researchers should have some understanding about effect sizes and their role in measuring patient change in clinical and empirical contexts. They need to be aware of how measurement instruments detect, track and quantify patient change and the resultant magnitude of effect relative to the clinical significance of the change for the patient. This paper aids nurses to effect robust change based on informed decision making thus strengthening their evidence-based practice.
\nWhat is already known about the topic?<\/p>\n

Patient change informs nurses clinical decision-making strategies; however, nurses may not consider the magnitude of change relative to the context of change and the reliability of the instruments used to identify and quantify the change
\nEffect size is one of the four criteria needed for power analysis and is perhaps the most difficult to identify
\nUnderpowered studies result in imprecise estimation of the true effect, which could be an over- or an under-estimation<\/p>\n

What this paper adds:<\/p>\n

This paper dispenses with the inherently complicated and technical terminology on effect size often found in the literature that can impact understanding. Consequently, this paper equips nurses to critique research literature and apply this knowledge to their clinical practice
\nProvides other methods for identifying a suitable effect size for use in power analysis and results reporting as opposed to defaulting to Cohen\u2019s d
\nDraws attention to the importance of reporting effect size and associated confidence interval with research results data<\/p>\n

Authors<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Duncan McKechnie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Keywords<\/h2>\n

    Effect size, measurement, instrument, clinically significant<\/p>\n

    References<\/h2>\n

    References not available for this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This article was originally published as: Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers Original…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[3889,3887,3828,3888],"class_list":["post-7157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-clinically-significant","tag-effect-size","tag-instrument","tag-measurement","wpcat-124-id"],"yoast_head":"\nDetermining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers - IJSSASS Repository<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers - IJSSASS Repository\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article was originally published as: Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers Original...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IJSSASS Repository\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ijssass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-28T17:06:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-29T05:09:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/c-users-user-desktop-logo-pnglogo-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"195\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/adf9bae5731958270e2140cfc1af3771\"},\"headline\":\"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-28T17:06:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-29T05:09:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/\"},\"wordCount\":510,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"clinically significant\",\"Effect size\",\"Instrument\",\"measurement\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/\",\"name\":\"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers - IJSSASS Repository\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-28T17:06:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-29T05:09:01+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/\",\"name\":\"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND SCIENTIFIC STUDIES\",\"description\":\"Open Access Library\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"IJSSASS\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#organization\",\"name\":\"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND SCIENTIFIC STUDIES\",\"alternateName\":\"IJSSASS\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/c-users-user-desktop-logo-pnglogo-3.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/c-users-user-desktop-logo-pnglogo-3.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":195,\"caption\":\"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND SCIENTIFIC STUDIES\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ijssass\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/adf9bae5731958270e2140cfc1af3771\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2404e10f252fd74bce698fdfc0296b3cfb701b99d14951364bf9586aaa0c4a8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2404e10f252fd74bce698fdfc0296b3cfb701b99d14951364bf9586aaa0c4a8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers - IJSSASS Repository","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers - IJSSASS Repository","og_description":"This article was originally published as: Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers Original...","og_url":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/","og_site_name":"IJSSASS Repository","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ijssass","article_published_time":"2025-06-28T17:06:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-29T05:09:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":195,"url":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/c-users-user-desktop-logo-pnglogo-2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/adf9bae5731958270e2140cfc1af3771"},"headline":"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers","datePublished":"2025-06-28T17:06:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-29T05:09:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/"},"wordCount":510,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#organization"},"keywords":["clinically significant","Effect size","Instrument","measurement"],"articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/","url":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/","name":"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers - IJSSASS Repository","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-28T17:06:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-29T05:09:01+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/determining-clinically-significant-patient-change-with-effect-sizes-considerations-for-clinicians-and-researchers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Determining clinically significant patient change with effect sizes: considerations for clinicians and researchers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/","name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND SCIENTIFIC STUDIES","description":"Open Access Library","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#organization"},"alternateName":"IJSSASS","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#organization","name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND SCIENTIFIC STUDIES","alternateName":"IJSSASS","url":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/c-users-user-desktop-logo-pnglogo-3.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/c-users-user-desktop-logo-pnglogo-3.png","width":300,"height":195,"caption":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND SCIENTIFIC STUDIES"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ijssass"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/adf9bae5731958270e2140cfc1af3771","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2404e10f252fd74bce698fdfc0296b3cfb701b99d14951364bf9586aaa0c4a8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2404e10f252fd74bce698fdfc0296b3cfb701b99d14951364bf9586aaa0c4a8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal"],"url":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8233,"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7157\/revisions\/8233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}