How to do a Systematic Literature Review in Nursing: A step-by-step guide

This is a step-by-step guide to doing a literature review in nursing, or related healthcare professions, that takes you through every step of the process from start to finish. From writing your review question to writing up your review, this practical book is the perfect workbook companion if you are doing your first literature review for study or clinical practice improvement. The book features sample review case studies to help identify good practice as well as the pitfalls to avoid, and the practical explanations will be invaluable at every stage. A must buy! “This is a valuable text that will prove useful for nurses who are planning to write a systematic review of the literature, whether as part of an academic assignment or for publication. The book is clearly written, easy to follow and comprehensive, taking readers through all of the key steps in a literature review. It offers a range of case studies and examples that will help to contextualise and clarify the steps of a review. The authors also signpost readers to a variety of resources and provide practical tips, summaries and templates to work through as part of the review process. This will be an important text for undergraduate and post-graduate nurses and I thoroughly recommend it.” Professor Fiona Irvine, Head of Nursing, University of Birmingham, UK “This book is a very comprehensive, well written and illustrated key text on systematic reviews for anyone involved in research within nursing. Its strengths are its well laid-out format, mixing figures and tables with real examples throughout.  It is a key resource for both the novice and more advanced researcher and will be a major support to students from basic degree right up to PhD level.” Dr. Pauline Joyce, Academic Co ordinator, RCSI School of Medicine, Ireland “This timely second edition of this book will form a core text for many nursing and healthcare students and their lecturers. The book provides a highly practical, thorough and logical overview to enable even novices to undertake a systematic literature review. Unlike some other methodological texts, the book is written in an easily accessible style, yet provides the necessary theoretical underpinning presented in a non-threatening way. The reader is directed to useful resources and the Q&A sections that follow the chapter summaries are helpful for students to self-assess their learning. The key points keep the reader on track, and helpful practical tips are woven into the text throughout. It’s a great book!” Dr. Debbie Roberts, Professor in Nurse Education and Clinical Learning, and Head of the Research Centre for the School of Social and Life Sciences, Glyndwr University, UK

Table of Contents:
What is a systematic review? Asking an answerable and focused review question Creating the protocol for your systematic review Writing the background to your review Specifying your objectives and inclusion and exclusion criteria Conducting a comprehensive and systematic literature search Working with your primary papers: Stage 1 - Selecting the studies to include in your systematic review (Stage 1) Working with your primary papers: Stage 2 - Appraising the methodological quality of your included research studies Working with your primary papers: Stage 3 - Extracting data from your included papers Synthesizing, summarizing and presenting your findings Writing up your discussion and completing your review Checking your systematic review is complete and some practical ways to share and disseminate your findings References Index  

About the Author :
Josette Bettany-Saltikov is Senior Lecturer in Research Methods at the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Teesside, UK and a qualified physiotherapist. Robert McSherry is Professor of Nursing and Practice Development at the School of Health and Social Care, Teesside University, UK.