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PhD Program: Thesis Content

General Dissertation/Thesis Chapter Content Requirements

Chapter 1:

Introduction - To provide an overview and conceptual framework for the field of study.

Chapter 2:

Background - To conduct a comprehensive rigorous and systematic literature review that identifies the existing knowledge to-date in this general field and the specific area of study as well as documents that a "gap" in knowledge exists that will be addressed. The literature review approach should be specified, with results noted. An example of this approach is linked.

Chapter 3:

Study Hypothesis/es, Research Methods, and Analysis Plan - All CLSC Program dissertation projects must take primarily a hypothesis-testing approach. The study’s overall research question to be addressed, specific aims, and hypothesis/es should be presented.

The detailed research methodology and analytical approach should be described. Where appropriate, detailed lab protocols should be specified (but may be included in an appendix). A power calculation/sample size calculation would normally be included. If/when qualitative/exploratory is planned to complement the primary hypothesis-driven study approach, these study aims and methods should be outlined also. Appendices may be helpful to provide copies of instrument calibration assessments, key diagnostic test analytical and clinical performance metrics, study data forms, study data definitions, survey instruments, as well as providing quick reference to any other source documents related to the study. The student’s dissertation COMIRB application and (at a minimum) COMIRB approval documentation (including HIPAA documentation if appropriate) should be included in a separate appendix.

Chapter 4:

Study Results - Tables, graphs, and detailed summary of the study findings should be presented.

Chapter 5:

Conclusion/Discussion - The dissertation project’s conclusions should be presented and a discussion of the implications (as related to the field of clinical science) included. The impact on patient care should be discussed, as relevant.

Chapter 6 (Optional):

Future research directions suggested and/or research projects planned may be discussed in this optional chapter.

Defense-Session Literature Review Section Circulated to Dissertation Committee

Copied with Permission from Dr. Cindy Harrison-Felix’s Final Dissertation entitled “Mortality and Life Expectancy after Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation”

Chair: Dr. Allan Prochazka. [defended successfully, 7/11/2003 – the highlighted portions were updated in the final dissertation submitted to the UCDHSC Graduate School - updated as of the date of defense]

1.2. Literature Review

The following literature review begins by describing the methods used to search and review the literature. The review of the literature gives an overview of TBI, then describes mortality after TBI including early and later mortality. It further discusses life expectancy, and causes and risk factors for later mortality after TBI. Because the literature on mortality after TBI was limited, the long-term survival in similar populations (i.e., spinal cord injury and other chronic neurologic conditions) was also reviewed. This section ends with a summary of findings and limitations of the current literature.

1.2.1. Literature search strategy

In reviewing the literature on mortality, life expectancy, causes and risk factors for death following TBI, the databases CINAHL, ERIC, HealthSTAR, MEDLINE and PsychINFO available through OVID were used. A final update of the literature search was performed on July 3, 2003. These databases were chosen because of their extensive base of medical, rehabilitation and epidemiology journals. The key words used and the number of citations found are included in Table 1.

For each topic area, a wide search was performed to assure a complete listing of all relevant articles. Of all citations identified (e.g., 2,354 for the main topic of TBI and mortality), the titles of these were carefully reviewed to exclude any completely irrelevant citations (see below for criteria used to exclude citations on main topic). Of the remaining (e.g., 197 for the main topic), the abstracts were carefully reviewed to further exclude irrelevant citations. Then, for the remaining citations (e.g., 43 for the main topic), the entire articles were reviewed. In addition, the reference lists of the articles were also reviewed and additional articles were obtained, reviewed and included if appropriate. For the one published article that was most relevant to this thesis [9], a related articles link using PubMed was performed to identify any additional relevant citations for this thesis topic.

For the main topic area, citations deemed inappropriate for further review included those exclusively focused on: children, the elderly, all trauma (not just TBI), clinical care, assessment tools, a particular type of TBI (e.g., subarachnoid hemorrhage), pre-hospital deaths, a particular etiology of injury (e.g., vehicular crashes); or were strictly case studies, editorials or commentaries.

Mortality studies based on other neurologic conditions were also reviewed to provide further insight to this thesis topic. The references on spinal cord injury mortality were drawn from articles complied by the Craig Hospital Research Department. The references focused on mortality following other neurologic conditions were found at http://www.lifeexpectancy.com, and those for epilepsy were found using PubMed. Citations providing background on vital status searches and death certificates were also obtained using PubMed.