Systematic Search of Literature - Thesis Proposal Example

Systematic Search of Literature of the Due: Systematic Search of Literature Probing for literature is an important step in the systematic review because it helps highlight the relevant study areas for further analysis. It requires not only precision but also a very high degree of understanding to have a comprehensive coverage of the topic under review (Khan et al.2003). Petticrew and Roberts (2006) argue that identifying relevant studies for the systematic review question is the biggest challenge for reviewers which usually require searching skills not within the ability and knowledge of most reviewers. Systematic search of literature resourcefully aids in supporting systematic review. The search provides students with an understanding of better team work in their career as well as providing relevant information to other experts who might be in need of the sought information for whatever reason (Glasziou 2001). In this systematic search, study was undertaken on the effectiveness of embracing the concepts of inter-professional education, nursing students, attitudes and collaborative teamwork for the nursing students. In this case, five databases were systematically searched as per the pre-specified systematic search strategy using the three parts for controlled studies of which generated 347 studies with only 29 studies identified and 11 included for critical appraisal. Of the 29 studies about the current systematic review on dissertation of the concepts, (20) resulted for the databases, (3) from hand searching journal of inter-professional care, (3) from publication lists and (3) from bibliography lists of related books (Hammick et. al.2007). The methods used for the literature search and their considerations are precisely presented in this paper along with descriptions of the studies reviewed. The methodological issues are elaborated along with their relevance and suggestions for further research and health career policy (Glasziou 2001). Initial Systematic Search: As highlighted in chapter two, the initial search was carried out in Google, Yahoo and electronic resource site-Metalib. The search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Metalib information obtained (Hammick et. al.2007) Inter-professional books in the bibliography lists which are provided in the Freeth et al. 2002 systematic review study, Barr et al. 2005 book and also Freeth et al. 2005 book were reviewed to include related studies. Hand searching method of e-journal in Cardiff University library catalogue was followed which included; the Journal of Inter-professional Care as one of the important journal which serves the topic and objective of the current systematic review dissertation. In this case hand searching enabled tracing as many relevant information or articles as possible (Hammick et. al.2007) Moreover, the related studies found through back and forward chaining searching methods were carried out in order to expand the search and find other studies. Back and forward search methods are essentially applied to detect and do away with bias information in some publications of articles with related information (Glasziou, 2001). In addition, one research author in UK, Mrs. Pollard was contacted through e-mail to request for latest publication and unpublished studies to be included in the systematic review. The feedback of the author was prompt and a list of all publications of the authors in the field of the current systematic review dissertation was provided. This step was carried out to eliminate the author of the current systematic dissertation publication’s bias which occurs in the systematic review influences the narrative synthesis due to ignorance of unpublished studies (Glasziou, 2001). It is however significant to consider the risk of unpublished studies in systematic review due to lack of peer review of unpublished study. For the purpose of this systematic literature review, four studies were included from the publication list which was provided by the author because of high level of studies resulting from peer review citation of both articles (Petticrew and Roberts 2006). Detail Stage of Searching Databases: The final step in the searching strategy was searching the data bases which were selected from previous systematic review work by Freeth et. al., 2002. These are Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINHAL), Medline, British Nursing Index and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA). In addition, Web of knowledge database was included to expand the search. Databases provide ample information for the fact that a large number of information or data is obtained from these searches (Hammick et .al 2007). This is because; there are a lot of search options that would enable an effective and efficient search. The searching strategy was extended following consultation with the librarian by employing the use of synonyms of key terms and truncations symbols such as (*) and (?) which increase the hit results of the database. Use of truncation symbols is important as they expand search terms especially when they are set at the end of a free-text word. The result is that these symbols expand the search to get back several suffix variations of the word (Petticrew and Roberts 2006).For instance, in this systematic review, the word collaborated? Team work, will reveal several related words such as collaboration, cooperation, collaborative related to team. In this way, the searching strings were developed by combining the key words with the Boolean operators “OR” and “AND”. These two operators are used to form relationships between search fields and are largely self-explanatory in their operation. After consideration, different search techniques were used in each of the above mentioned databases. The following key terms were used in searching the data bases according to PICO term and modified from Freeth et al. 2005; searching strategy key terms: A. The concept of inter-professional education 1. Inter-profession* education 2. Inter-profession* education 3. Inter-profession* learning  4. Inter-profession* learning 5. A combination of S1 or S2 or S3 or S4 6. shared education  7. Shared learning 8. Interdisciplinary education 9. Inter-disciplinary education 10. Multi-profession* education  11. Multi-profession* education  12. A combination of S6 or S7 or S8 or S9 or S10 or S11  B. The concept of nursing student 13. Pre-registration nursing students. 14. Undergraduate nursing students. 15. Pre-licensure nursing students. 16. A combination of S13 or S14 or 15 17. A combination of S1 and S16. C. The concept of attitudes 18. Nursing students’ attitudes. 19. A combination of S1 and S 18. D. The concept of collaborative teamwork 20. Collaborated? Team work.  21. Inter-professional teamwork.  22. Inter-professional collaboration.  23. A combination of S20 or S21 or S22. 24. A combination of S1 and S23.  Although, same key terms were used for all the databases, it was noticed that different hits number with each database were obtained. For example, in Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) the search hits for inter-profession* education revealed 540 results whereas in Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) only revealed 437. Moreover, the expanders and limitation criteria was different between the databases as each of this database has its own limitation and expansion searching strategy which were followed in the search though time span is not possible for all the database to specify the start month and finish months of searching strategy which can be also taken into consideration with the differences between the databases (Petticrew and Roberts 2006). In this stage after searching the five databases and eligibility criteria application was carried out for the related title and abstract 374 full studies were retrieved with only 29 studies included. Final Stage in Systematic Searching: After considering the steps in allocating the appropriate source of information for the current systematic review dissertation by searching bibliography lists of two related books (result in 3) , publication lists of Mrs. Pollard (result in3 ) and hand searching of Journal of inter-professional Care (result in3), searching five databases (result in20) with total 29 studies. Consequently, 18 duplicated studies were removed since they were all the studies which were found in the publication list of Mrs. Pollard, bibliography lists and the Journal of Inter-professional Care which were also found in the databases. Thus, the duplicated study was removed and only 14 studies were found. The duplicated studies were removed from the reference book due to the fact that, they can bias the results obtained (Parahoo 2006). Back chaining of the retrieved articles was carried out with one more study being obtained. This step was necessary to expand the searching which resulted in increasing the chances for more studies to be included (Parahoo 2006). In this systematic review 11 studies were included for the critical appraisal because they met the inclusion and exclusion criteria hence, the studies were considered to be appropriate for this systematic review. As a result providing a summary of the searching strategy was important by explaining the searching strategy steps using the flow chart in the following page. In addition, the next page proceeded with the table of Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) searching strategy to illustrate an example of database searching strategy with the rest of the data base in the appendix. Table (1) summary of the systematic searching strategy: Name of databases/ other source of studies Key words hits relevant studies by title Relevant studies by titles and abstract reviewed Full study retrieved eligibility criteria checked Studies included for critical appraisal ASSIA 1000 645 75 2 BEI 455 241 60 4 CINAHL 2,500 1350 150 8 Medline via Ovid 1224 810 50 4 Web of Knowledge 755 277 25 2 Bibliography lists from the books 45 11 6 3 Hand searching of Journal of Inter-professional Care 155 23 4 3 Publication list from author 6 5 4 3 Total number 6140 3361 374 29 Checked against duplication of study 18 were duplicated and 11 forwarded for critical appraisal References Glasziou P. (2001): Systematic Reviews in Health Care: A Practical Guide: Cambridge University Press Hammick M. Freeth S. D. & Goodsman D. (2007): Being Inter Professionals: Polity Publishers Petticrew M. & Roberts H. (2006): Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide; Blackwell Publishers Parahoo K. (2006): Nursing Research: Principles, Process and Issues: Palgrave Macmillan publishers Read More