There have been several incidences of claims and counter claims about the relationship between Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). There is a significantly large group of people who believe that MMR vaccine causes ASD, hence heightening their fear for the vaccine and making them shy away from presenting their children for the vaccine. Worse still, the families with history of ASD in the family grow bigger discomfort on the use of the vaccine since they fear that the genetic exposure, coupled with the vaccine that may predispose their children to ASD, is almost a sure way of getting the ASD affecting their children. It is a health danger that faces the nation since the children, who are not vaccinated, risk developing measles that may result in death, mumps that may lead to other complications of the organs in the body and rubella which may expose the child to extreme suffering from pain and fevers. It is on the basis of the above assumptions that the research by Jain A. et.al, (2016) was conducted to ascertain or refute the claim. A retrospective cohort study was done among children who received the vaccine without family background of ASD and those with family members who have suffered the ASD before. The study involved 95,727 children who were continuously enrolled in health plan from birth to 5 years of age. Generally, the outcomes and the conclusion of the research had it that receipt of the MMR vaccine was not associated with increased risk of ASD, regardless of whether older siblings had ASD. These findings indicate no harmful association between MMR vaccine receipt and ASD even among children already at higher risk for ASD.

Relevance of the article to the study of nursing

The nursing fraternity is mainly concerned with providing care to children and patients who are hospitalized as well as the old age and the community health too. The care for children to prevent diseases at young age has been the preoccupation of post natal care. Vaccination is an integral part of post natal care. Nurses are at the forefront in battling preventable diseases. The registered nurses play a significant role in educating patients, families and even the community at large on disease prevention (Zimlich R., 2014).

This study stands out as one important piece of information that helps shed light on the controversial issue of MMR vaccination and it connection to ASD. By giving this factual and data supported information, the nurses can not only get important information on the MMR vaccine, but also use this information to educate the community during the community health mobilization or sensitization, particularly on the vaccine in question....

Nursing as a discipline also benefits from this research since it has the scientifically acquired data that is useful in teaching nursing students on the association of the MMR vaccine and ASD and the surrounding fallacies that come with it.
The article further acts to confirm the position that the nursing fraternity has had on the MMR vaccination before the research. The position of the nursing fraternity has been that the MMR vaccination had nothing to do with the cause of ASD and this research affirms the position through the detailed recording of research findings and analysis of the data collected.

The research methods used

The research method used in the research was I the form of retrospective research from cohorts as stated before. The cohort was derived from a database that has individuals from geographically diverse areas in the USA. The children were identified from the medically insured individuals with both the medical and pharmacy cover, and were born between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2007. The researcher looked at the claims databases of the above cohort and noted down the details of the claim as was.

This research methodology that was used allowed for collection of data from a wide range of participants. Through a retrospective excavation of data, the research benefited from objective information that was not subject to emancipation by the research participants by the fact of belonging to a research cohort. The large number of participants also gives a reliable trend that is instrumental to the drawing of an objective conclusion. This method also benefited the research with data from diverse ages from one year to five years, and a diverse cultural setting as the participants came from different geographical locations, this giving more credibility to the research conclusion. This method also allowed for the collection of other covariates in the research like the education levels of the parents, the race or ethnicity of the participants, the income of the household which are sociodemographics that are associated with vaccine receipts and ASD. These covariates would be hard to obtain with the use of other methods that are not retrospective in nature.

Applicable theoretical framework

The article gives the process and results of a study on the MMR vaccine and the possible association with the ASD. This is not the first research on the same subject and was done on the basis of preexisting research findings that had been done before. This means that the most applicable approach would be the use of the appropriate theoretical framework. Theoretical framework serves to explain, predict, understand phenomena and…