Understanding the thought processes of individuals who receive and deliver health care is essential for driving innovation and improving care delivery. Qualitative research explores how and why people act, revealing the decision-making processes within specific contexts. Despite its potential, qualitative research has been underrepresented in medical literature, and many journals may undervalue such submissions. The purpose of this review was to map the characteristics of qualitative education research related to respiratory care practice across peer-reviewed and grey literature in both clinical and academic settings. This scoping review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines and searched 6 databases plus Google Scholar for the years 2008–2023. Two researchers independently screened studies for inclusion, and data extraction was verified by a second reviewer. We tabulated and categorized characteristics of the resulting 592 studies. Most studies (69%) addressed the needs assessment phase of instructional design and used a generic qualitative approach (41%), with 26% not specifying an approach. Among studies conducted in clinical settings ( n = 548), common topics included tobacco use (36%), asthma (19%), and COPD (10%) with adults (85%) as the primary population—mainly community members (40%), patients (30%), or family (18%). Limited qualitative research appeared on acute care topics. Half of the 44 studies in the academic setting addressed clinical education ( n = 11) or classroom education ( n = 11). Respiratory therapy professionals ( n = 16) were the most frequently studied group. Publication rates doubled in the first decade of the study period, with most authors affiliated with medicine. Although most published results appeared in journals for clinical (95%) and academic (89%) settings, few appeared in high-ranking respiratory journals. Enhancing the quality of qualitative research submissions may identify missing perspectives needed to advance health care delivery.
Becker et al. (2026) studied this question.