Literature Review

 It involve identification and analysis of relevant publications that contain information pertaining to the research problem

Purposes of the literature review  To determine what is already known about the topic that you wish to study (a literature source serves as the basis for the topic)  Determines gaps, consistencies in the literature about a subject, concept, or problem.  Discovers unanswered questions about a subject, concept, or problem

 Describes the strengths and weaknesses of designs/ methods of inquiry and instruments used in earlier work.  Many publishes studies contain recommendations for future research.  To narrow the problem to be studied.

 Locating theoretical or conceptual formulations that help guide the study.  Help plan the study methodology.

Electronic Literature Searches  Electronic Data Base (EDB): Huge bibliographic files that can be accessed by computer. Most of the electronic data base of interest to nurses can be accessed either through an online search (i.e by directly communicating with a host computer over telephone lines or the internet) or CD-ROM (compact disks that store the bibliographic information).

The electronic data base that contain references on nursing research include the following  CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and ALLIED Health Literature)  MEDLINE (Medical Literature on-line)  PsycINFO (Psychology Information)  AIDSLINE (AIDS Information on-line)  CancerLit (Cancer Literature)  Health STAR (Health Services, Technology, Administration, and Research)  CHID (Combined Health Information Database)

 Most libraries at institutions with nursing schools subscribe to CINAHL, one of the most useful database for nurses.

 11) Print indexes are books used to locate research reports in journals and other documents. Indexes that are particularly useful to nurses are (International Nursing Index, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Nursing Studies Index, Index Medicus, and Hospital Literature Index).

 111) Abstract journals: Summarize articles that have appeared in other journals. Abstracting services are generally more useful than indexes because they provide a summery of a study rather than just a title. Two important abstract sources for the nursing literature are Nursing Abstract and Psychological Abstract.

Primary and secondary resources  A primary sources: is description of a research study that was written by the original investigator (s) who was/ were conduct them. It is written by the person (s) who developed the theory or conducted the research. In historical research, a primary sources is an eye witness or an original document.

 A secondary source: is a summary or description of a research study that was written by someone other than the study investigator (s) or the original researcher. Literature review articles are secondary sources.

 Note: if you are critiquing the review of the literature. It may be difficult for you to determine if the author is citing primary or secondary sources. The only information you have to rely on is contained in the references list at the article was published in a research journal. The only way to make a definite determination of the type of source would be locate each reference.

The following steps are recommended for writing a literature review 1.Identifying Potential references. 2.Locate and screen them for relevance and appropriateness

 Identify the major ideas (usually two or three) that are related to the problem statements.  List the concepts either in descending order of importance or in terms of logical presentation.  In a sentence or two, summarize the major findings of each study. Include complete reference citations

 At the end of each section, summarize the findings for each group of studies write a paragraph at the end each major concept or topic that summarizes the key points, supports the cohesiveness of the subheadings, and establishes the relevance of the proposed problem.

 Compile the entire literature review and scan it for coherence, continuity, and smoothness of transition from one topic to the next. Carefully check each citation for accuracy.

Organizing The Review  A crucial task in preparing a written review. It is useful to prepare a summery tables. The tables could include columns with headings such as author, type of study, sample, design, data collection approach, and key findings. Such a table provides a quick overview that allows the reviewer to make sense of a large mass of information.

How to do Citation: Recommend styles  $ Several experts (Abraham, 1999; Lawrence, 2000) have asserted that unmet expectations engender anxiety.  $ previous studies indicate that women who participate in preparation for childbirth classes manifest less stress during labor than those who do not(klotz,2000, McTygue, 1998).

 $ The studies by Singleton (1999) and Fortune (2000) suggest that doctors and nurses do not fully understand the psychological dynamics of recovery from a myocardial infarction.  $ Attitudes have been found to be relatively enduring attributes that cannot be change overnight (OConnell,1999; Valentine, 2000).  $ According to doctor A.Cassard, an authority on stress, responsibility is an intrinsic stressor (Cassard, 1998, 1999)

 Example 1:  Farley and Fay in (2005) developed a system for assessing the learning needs of registered nurses in England. Registered nurses completed questionnaire on their learning needs. The response rate was 24% out of The findings revealed that the following topics were identified to have highest interest: Motivation, stress management, counseling, ……….,physical assessment (20)

 Example 2:Urbano et al. in (2007) examined the motivational orientations of 500 registered nurses, randomly selected, who reside in a large metropolitan area. The results showed that motivation ……….(48)

Guidelines for critiquing the literature review Is the literature review comprehensive? Does the review flow logically from the purposes of the study? Are all sources relevant to the study topic? Are both classic and current sources included? Are paraphrases or direct quotes used most often? Are supporting and opposing findings should be presented? Are most of the references primary sources?

References  Example1 : journal  Allmark, p.(2005). Can the study of ethics enhance nursing practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing; 51(6):  Author name: Peter Allmark  Year of publishing : (2005)  The study title: Can the study of ethics enhance nursing practice.  The volume: 51  Issue : 6  The page:

 Example 2: Book  O'Connor, A. B. Nursing staff development and continuing education(2nd ed.). Canada: Little, Brown and company,  Name of the book : Nursing staff development and continuing education.  Canada : The place of publishing.  Little, Brown and company: The name of publisher  (2007) : Year of publishing

 - Refereed journals are important sources of scholarly literature. It is uses a panel of reviewers to review manuscript for possible publication.  reviewers are chosen by editor for their experts as clinicians, researchers, and / or administrators.  The reviews are usually performed blind.