jagomart
digital resources
picture1_Journal Pdf 97583 | Green 2006 Narrative Literature Reviews


 137x       Filetype PDF       File size 0.13 MB       Source: familymedicine.med.wayne.edu


File: Journal Pdf 97583 | Green 2006 Narrative Literature Reviews
clinical update writingnarrativeliteraturereviewsfor peer reviewedjournals secretsof thetrade a bartn green dc msed dacbsp claired johnson dc msed dacbspb alanadams dc ms msed dacbnc aassociate editor national university of health sciences ...

icon picture PDF Filetype PDF | Posted on 20 Sep 2022 | 3 years ago
Partial capture of text on file.
                                               Clinical Update
            Writingnarrativeliteraturereviewsfor
            peer-reviewedjournals:secretsof
            thetrade
                                                             a
            BartN.Green,DC,MSEd,DACBSP ,
            ClaireD.Johnson,DC,MSEd,DACBSPb,
            AlanAdams,DC,MS,MSEd,DACBNc
            aAssociate Editor, National University of Health Sciences. bEditor, National University of Health Sciences.
            cVice President of Academic Affairs and Program Development, Texas Chiropractic College
            Submitrequests for reprints to: Dr. Bart Green, National University of Health Sciences, 200 E. Roosevelt Rd,
            Lombard, IL 60148, bgreen@nuhs.edu
            Sources of support: This article is reprinted with permission. Its original citation is: Green BN, Johnson CD,
            Adams A. Writing narrative literature reviews for peer-reviewed journals: secrets of the trade. J Sports
            Chiropr Rehabil 2001;15:5–19.
              ABSTRACT
              Objective: To describe and discuss the process used to write a narrative review of the literature for publication in
              a peer-reviewed journal. Publication of narrative overviews of the literature should be standardized to increase
              their objectivity.
              Background: In the past decade numerous changes in research methodology pertaining to reviews of the literature
              have occurred. These changes necessitate authors of review articles to be familiar with current standards in the
              publication process.
              Methods: Narrative overview of the literature synthesizing the findings of literature retrieved from searches of
              computerized databases, hand searches, and authoritative texts.
              Discussion: An overview of the use of three types of reviews of the literature is presented. Step by step instructions
              for how to conduct and write a narrative overview utilizing a ‘best-evidence synthesis’ approach are discussed,
              starting with appropriate preparatory work and ending with how to create proper illustrations. Several resources
              for creating reviews of the literature are presented and a narrative overview critical appraisal worksheet is
              included. A bibliography of other useful reading is presented in an appendix.
              Conclusion: Narrative overviews can be a valuable contribution to the literature if prepared properly. New and
              experienced authors wishing to write a narrative overview should find this article useful in constructing such a
              paper and carrying out the research process. It is hoped that this article will stimulate scholarly dialog amongst
              colleagues about this research design and other complex literature review methods. (J Chiropr Med 2006;5:101–
              117)
              Key Indexing Terms: Review Literature; Authorship; Peer Review, research; Manuscripts; Meta-
              analysis
            0899-3467/Clinical Update/1002-049$3.00/0                                                  101
            JOURNAL OF CHIROPRACTIC MEDICINE
            Copyright © 2006 by National University of Health Sciences
             Volume5 • Number3 • Fall2006
             INTRODUCTION                                             reviews also provide information for decision mak-
                                                                      ers and are used by researchers to identify, justify
             Background                                               and refine hypotheses and to recognize and avoid
                                                                      pitfalls in previous research.1,8 Additionally, reviews
             The purpose of this article is to describe and discuss   of the literature provide a basis for validating as-
             the research design known as a review of the litera-                 9
                                                                      sumptions, provide insight into the dynamics un-
             ture and to delineate how to write a particular vari-                                              10
                                                                      derlying the findings of other studies       and may
             ety of this research design, the narrative overview of   offer more conclusive results than a single primary
             the literature. Another intention of this article is to                  11
                                                                      research study.    Depending on the variety of litera-
             provide educational information and assistance for       ture review, they may provide a very high level of
             those who have not yet published a literature re-        evidence for making clinical practice decisions.
             view and to decrease potential author frustration
             that can arise during the peer review process. It is     One of the cautions that one must consider with
             important to note that the general classification of     literature reviews is the bias that is often associated
             ’literature review’ has three varieties: narrative re-   with them.10,11,12,13 As an author, it is important to
             view, qualitative systematic review and quantitative     attempt to reduce bias as much as possible through
             systematic review. Each will be addressed in this        appropriate writing and research techniques. An in-
             article. However, the primary focus of this article      crease in objectivity leads to improved utility and
             will be on the writing of a narrative review.            credibility in publications.14 While certain criteria
                                                                                                                      1
                                                                      for literature reviews have been published, little
             Aliterature review is a type of research article pub-    has been accomplished in terms of standardizing
             lished in a professional peer-reviewed journal. The      and verifying the validity of the criteria pro-
             purpose of a literature review is to objectively report  posed.1,14 Indeed, many changes have taken place
             the current knowledge on a topic and base this           in recent years regarding publication standards for
                                                            1                           10,12
             summary on previously published research. A lit-         literature reviews     andit is important for authors
             erature review provides the reader with a compre-        to keep current with these changes. This paper
             hensive overview and helps place that information        clearly states the minimum acceptable criteria they
             into perspective.2                                       pertain to narrative overviews of the literature.
             The literature review research design is different       METHODS
             from other research designs because rather than          Information used to write this paper was collected
             patients, data to write the report are collected from    from the sources listed in table 1.
                                      3,4
             the published literature.    These full length articles
             provide a new conclusion to the literature, not the      DISCUSSION
             brief summary of literature that is given typically in
             the introduction or discussion sections of other re-     Three Varieties of Reviews of the Literature
             search designs.2,5 In creating a literature review, the
             author searches through the literature, retrieves nu-    The three basic types of literature reviews are nar-
             merous sources of information and synthesizes the        rative reviews, qualitative systematic reviews, and
                                                               2,3,6
             findings of all relevant sources into one article.
             Thus, a vast amount of information is brought to-        Table 1
             gether and written in a manner in which the reader       Sources Used for This Overview
             can clearly understand the topic.                        • MEDLINEsearch1966–January2001.Keywords:
                                                                        Review of the Literature; Authorship; Meta-analysis;
             There are several reasons to read reviews of the           Narrative overview.
                                                                      • CINAHL search from 1982 to December 2000. Key
             literature. For the clinician, they can save valuable      words: Review of the Literature; Authorship;
             time when reviewing or searching for information           Meta-analysis; Narrative overview.
             about patient care by condensing a great amount of       • Hand searches of the references of retrieved
                                                                        literature.
                                            1,6,7                     • Personal and college libraries searching for texts
             information into a few pages.       The clinician can
             read one paper instead of sifting through the whole        onresearchmethodsandliteraturereviews.
             of the literature to find the answer to a clinical       • Discussions with experts in the field of reviews of
                                                                        the literature.
             question; the author of the literature review has        • Personal experience participating in and writing
             already done most of this work for him. Literature         several reviews of the literature.
             102
                                                                                  Fall2006 • Number3 • Volume5
              quantitative systematic reviews (meta-analyses).          author to determine which of these two paths to
              The amount of clinical evidence afforded by each of       take when writing the article.
              these designs increases as the methods employed to
              conduct them become more detailed and elaborate.          There are many good reasons to write a quality
              In this section, the emphasis will be placed on nar-      narrative overview. Narrative overviews are useful
              rative reviews, since they are the subject of this        educational articles since they pull many pieces of
              article; a brief description of qualitative and quanti-   information together into a readable format. They
              tative systematic reviews will also be given.             are helpful in presenting a broad perspective on a
                                                                        topic and often describe the history or development
                                                                                                           2,10
              Narrative Literature Review                               of a problem or its management.         Faculty like to
                                                                        use overviews in the classroom because they are
              There are three types of narrative reviews of the         often more up to date than textbooks, provide a
              literature: editorials, commentaries, and overview        single source for students to read from, and expose
              articles.4,15                                             students to peer reviewed literature. Narrative over-
                                                                        views are also used as educational articles to bring
                                                                        practitioners up to date with certain clinical proto-
              Editorials, typically written by the editor of the jour-  cols.7,11 Some journals, publish quizzes related to
              nal or an invited guest, may be a narrative review if     such articles; these quizzes can be submitted to
              the author retrieves and synthesizes information          regulating boards for continuing education credit.
              about a particular topic for the reader. Usually these
              types of narrative reviews are based upon a short,        Often discussing theory and context, narrative over-
              select and narrowly focused review of only a few          views can serve to provoke thought and contro-
                     15
              papers.   However, editorials may be no more than         versy. For this reason, these reviews may be an
              the editor’s comments regarding a current issue of        excellent venue for presenting philosophical per-
              the journal or a current event in health care. There-     spectives in a balanced manner. Philosophical ar-
              fore, editorials do not automatically qualify as nar-     ticles can be excellent for stimulating scholarly dia-
              rative reviews.                                           log amongst readers. Readers can participate in this
                                                                        process by writing to the letters to the editor section
              Commentaries may also be written as a narrative           of the journal and present their opinions and critical
              review, however they are typically written with a         appraisal. The letters to the editor section can be a
                                                   4                    dynamic part of a journal; several times in the his-
              particular opinion being expressed. In these articles
              research methodology is usually not presented and         tory of health care tremendous insight into patient
              the author’s synthesis of the articles demonstrates       management and research design has been pre-
                                                                                              7
              bias. Commentaries are usually shorter than a full        sented in this forum.
              length review article and it is expected that the         Authors of narrative overviews are often acknowl-
              author possesses expertise in the content area of the     edged experts in the field and have conducted re-
              commentary. In short, a commentary is a biased                                6,7,15,18
              narrative review that draws upon the wisdom of the        search themselves.          Editors sometimes solicit
              commentator. Usually the purpose of a commentary          narrative overviews from specific authors in order to
                                                                                                     18
              is to provoke scholarly dialog among the readers of       bring certain issues to light. Authors must be care-
              the journal.                                              ful to avoid a common pitfall of the overview de-
                                                                        sign, which is to present an opinion oriented argu-
                                                                        ment based upon a myriad of references,3 rather
              Narrative overviews, also known as an unsystematic        than objective conclusions based upon the literature
                               16
              narrative reviews,  are comprehensive narrative syn-      reviewed. For this reason, some studies have deter-
              theses of previously published information. The de-       mined that some experts are less likely to adhere to
              tails of how to prepare this type of article are pre-     high levels of methodological rigor when writing
              sented in this paper. This type of literature review                                       14
                                                                        these papers than non-experts.      Therefore, wheth-
              reports the author’s findings in a condensed format       er one is a novice or expert, the critical factor in
              that typically summarizes the contents of each ar-        writing a good narrative review is to use good meth-
                   1
              ticle. Some researchers suggest that a proper narra-      ods.
              tive overview should critique each study in-
              cluded,2,17 but other authors write that this is not      Once quite common, overviews are slowly falling
              necessarily a property of overviews.1 It is up to the     into disfavor in some journals due to a lack of
                                                                                                                       103
             Volume5 • Number3 • Fall2006
             systematic methods that should be employed to            Qualitative Systematic Literature Review
             construct them.11,19 Rarely have the methods used
             in creating the paper been divulged to the               A systematic review is a type of literature review
                    1,10,11                                           that employs detailed, rigorous and explicit meth-
             reader,       which is a problem identified as early
                      20                                                  4,22,23
             as 1987.   Usually the number of sources employed        ods.       A detailed search of the literature based
                                                      4,10
             to find the literature are incomplete,        possibly   upon a focused question or purpose is the hallmark
                                                                                              4,22
             creating an insignificant knowledge base from            of a systematic review.     Since the review is struc-
             which to draw a conclusion. In this rather unsys-        tured around a focused clinical question, it allows
             tematic approach, selection of information from          the researcher to develop criteria that determine if a
             primary articles is usually subjective, lacks explicit   research publication should be included or excluded
                                                                                            22,23
             criteria for inclusion and leads to a biased re-         in the final synthesis.    Step-by-step methodology
             view.4,7,10,13,16 The author’s interpretation and syn-   used in the research is described. Authors of system-
             thesis of information should take into account ma-       atic reviews attempt to obtain all original (primary)
             jor differences between studies, such as if patients     research studies published on the topic under study
             samples in one study are completely different than       bysearching in multiple databases, performing hand
                        4
             in another or that research designs are not compa-       searches and contacting authors of previously pub-
             rable.3,7 Without identifying these differences, one     lished research. Additionally, authors will attempt
             takes the risk of providing faulty conclusions or        to locate articles that may not have been published
             incorrect information. All of these potential pitfalls   because the results of the study did not support the
             are avoidable if the author is aware of them and         research hypothesis.1,4,22,23
             takes the appropriate steps to avoid them.
                                                                      Each paper is reviewed in a systematic and consis-
             In the past, many reviews of the literature were         tent manner, usually by several independent re-
             constructed based upon the personal papers of the        viewers, and usually rated using a scoring system by
             author, creating a bias that was slanted to what that    the authors.1,4,23 Each piece of evidence drawn from
             author found interesting or controversial.3 When         a paper for the literature review is extracted in the
             this occurs it is difficult to discern if the author has same fashion to help decrease the bias that occurs
             constructed an objective review of the literature or a   when this information extraction is done subjec-
             lengthy commentary. Biased writers will draw con-        tively, such as in a narrative overview.22 Authors
             clusions based more on opinion than data, which is       create data, or evidence tables, in order to tease out
                                                               13,16  the differences in the results of different studies.24
             not a truthful representation of the research.
             Often times this faulty synthesis is then repeated by    These reviews of the literature are called qualitative
             other authors and the mistakes are handed down           because the process by which the individual studies
             from one study to the next,1 thus perpetuating the       are integrated includes a summary and critique of
             errors. The aforementioned problems related to lit-      the findings derived from systematic methods, but
             erature reviews are a potential danger in health care    does not statistically combine the results of all of the
                                                                                        22,24
             if readers make patient health care decisions based      studies reviewed.
                                   13,18
             upon faulty reviews.
                                                                      Because of the rigorous methods employed in con-
             While narrative overviews are great papers to read       ducting qualitative systematic reviews, they are a
             to keep up to date, receive continuing education         more powerful evidence-based source to garner
             credits, or challenge your way of thinking, they are     clinical information than narrative reviews, case re-
             not a form of evidence that should be used fre-          ports, case series, and poorly conducted cohort stud-
                                                                          21
             quently when making decisions about how to solve         ies.
             specific clinical patient problems. Narrative over-
             views are one of the weakest forms of evidence to        Quantitative Systematic Literature
             use for making clinical decisions in regard to patient   Review (Meta-analyses)
                  21 primarily because they deal more with
             care,
             broader issues than focused clinical problems. Addi-     A systematic review that critically evaluates each
             tionally, there is a higher degree of bias involved in   paper and statistically combines the results of the
             overviews than some other research designs.21,22         studies is called a quantitative systematic review of
             Nevertheless, narrative overviews constitute an im-      the literature, also known as a meta-analy-
             portant component in the literature base.                sis.1,10,22,23,24 Introduced in 1976, meta-analyses
             104
The words contained in this file might help you see if this file matches what you are looking for:

...Clinical update writingnarrativeliteraturereviewsfor peer reviewedjournals secretsof thetrade a bartn green dc msed dacbsp claired johnson dacbspb alanadams ms dacbnc aassociate editor national university of health sciences beditor cvice president academic affairs and program development texas chiropractic college submitrequests for reprints to dr bart e roosevelt rd lombard il bgreen nuhs edu sources support this article is reprinted with permission its original citation bn cd adams writing narrative literature reviews reviewed journals secrets the trade j sports chiropr rehabil abstract objective describe discuss process used write review publication in journal overviews should be standardized increase their objectivity background past decade numerous changes research methodology pertaining have occurred these necessitate authors articles familiar current standards methods overview synthesizing findings retrieved from searches computerized databases hand authoritative texts discussio...

no reviews yet
Please Login to review.