Conducting integrative reviews: a guide for novice nursing researchers

Abstract

Background: Integrative reviews within healthcare promote a holistic understanding of the research topic. Structure and a comprehensive approach within reviews are important to ensure the reliability in their findings. Aim: This paper aims to provide a framework for novice nursing researchers undertaking integrative reviews. Discussion: Established methods to form a research question, search literature, extract data, critically appraise extracted data and analyse review findings are discussed and exemplified using the authors’ own review as a comprehensive and reliable approach for the novice nursing researcher undertaking an integrative literature review. Conclusion: Providing a comprehensive audit trail that details how an integrative literature review has been conducted increases and ensures the results are reproducible. The use of established tools to structure the various components of an integrative review increases robustness and readers’ confidence in the review findings. Implications for practice: Novice nursing researchers may increase the reliability of their results by employing a framework to guide them through the process of conducting an integrative review.