Table 4 Examples of iterative searches conducted to identify relevant studies
Searches | Decision-making process |
|---|---|
1. Searches conducted: on the first week of June 2013 | The first round of searches looked for studies that aimed to develop CHIs. After completing these searches the team met to discuss the relevance of the hits identified. Results from the searches were too broad, therefore the team decided to narrow the searches to look for studies that reported on optimisation processes. |
The Cochrane Methodology Register | |
S1 complex intervention ti, ab | |
S2 design ti, ab | |
S3 development ti, ab | |
S4 S2 OR S3 ti,ab | |
S5 S1 AND S4 ti,ab | |
MEDLINE, CINAHL, AMED | |
S1 complex intervention ab | The studies identified through the Cochrane Methodology Register and AMED were not particularly relevant for the review. Therefore, the team excluded these databases from the following searches. |
S2 health intervention ab | |
S3 allied health intervention ab | |
S4 S1 OR S2 OR S3 | |
S5 develop* ab | |
S6 design* ab | |
S7 S5 OR S6 ab | |
S8 S4 AND S7 ab | |
PsycINFO, PROQUEST Nursing and Allied Health Source | |
S1 complex intervention ab | |
S2 health intervention ab | |
S3 allied health intervention ab | |
S4 S1 OR S2 OR S3 | |
S5 develop* ab | |
S6 design* ab | |
S7 S5 OR S6 ab | |
S8 S4 AND S7 ab | |
2. Searches conducted: on the first week of September 2013 | The second round of searches looked for pre-trial studies that had applied and reported on the process of optimising CHIs. Results highlighted issues in relation to the terminology used. In particular, the keywords related to ‘optimisation’ retrieved a series of studies related to other disciplines, such as biomedicine and statistics. |
MEDLINE, CINAHL | |
S1 complex intervention ab | |
S2 health intervention ab | |
S3 nursing intervention ab | |
S4 S1 OR S2 OR S3 | |
S5 optimi?ation ab | |
S6 optimising ab | |
S7 S5 OR S6 | |
S8 S4 AND S7 | |
3. Searches conducted: on the last week of October 2013 and updated on the first week of March 2015 | |
MEDLINE, CINAHL | In the third round of searchers the team decided to include several keywords related to guidance and frameworks for the development and evaluation of CHIs. Therefore, these searchers looked for intervention development studies that either explicitly referred to optimisation or described processes that fitted with the definition of optimisation study used in this review. |
S1 complex intervention ab | |
S2 health intervention ab | |
S3 allied health intervention ab | |
S4 (MH “nursing interventions”) ab | |
S5 S1 OR S2 OR S3 OR S4 | |
S6 optimi?ation ab | |
S7 intervention modelling experiment* ab | |
S8 modelling ab | |
S9 phase 1 ab | This iterative process allowed to identify a search strategy that balanced between the breadth of the search and the relevance of the hit retrieved. |
S10 S6 OR S7 OR S8 OR S9 | |
S11 S5 AND S10 | |
PsycINFO, PROQUEST Nursing and Allied Health Source | |
S1 complex intervention ab | |
S2 health intervention ab | |
S3 allied health intervention ab | |
S4 S1 OR S2 OR S3 | |
S5 optimisation ab | |
S6 optimising ab | |
S7 modelling ab | |
S8 intervention modelling experiment* ab | |
S9 S5 OR S6 OR S7 OR S8 | |
S10 S4 AND S9 |