Barriers and Facilitators of Nurses' Involvement in Guideline Development and Adaptation: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis Protocol

ABSTRACT Introduction Nurses often use clinical practice guidelines to assist them in treating childhood cases. Guidelines provide an easily accessible resource that clinicians can review to expand their knowledge base and determine patient care. Those involved in the guideline development and adaptation process usually have a better understanding when it comes to making use of the guideline. It is imperative to understand how the implementers of guidelines can be involved in the guideline development and adaptation process. The use of a Qualitative Evidence Synthesis is encouraged as it is the most appropriate method for this review because it enables the systematic integration of findings from primary qualitative studies that explore social, contextual, and experiential dimensions. This review seeks to answer the question: What are the views, experiences, and perceived barriers and facilitators of nurses involved in the development or adaptation of clinical practice guidelines? Using the SPIDER framework, this synthesis will focus on qualitative studies involving nurses (S), their participation in guideline development and adaptation (PI), using interviews or focus groups (D), to explore perceptions of engagement, challenges, and enabling factors (E), within a qualitative research paradigm (R). Objectives To identify and synthesize studies exploring methods and processes for involving nurses in guideline development and adaptation. To explore the barriers to and facilitators of involving nurses in guideline development and adaptation. Methods This review will follow the thematic synthesis approach and will be reported according to the ENTREQ checklist to ensure transparency in synthesis methods and the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reporting of the review process. Searches will be carried out in PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Medline and PsycINFO. We will apply thematic content analysis, which involves coding of extracted text, developing descriptive themes and generating analytical themes. Trial registration: PROSPERO registration number: CRD42024580363.