Meta-synthesis of qualitative research in nursing: a literature review

There has been an accumulation of qualitative studies in nursing، but the findings from many of these investigations have remained largely obscure، and they have had little impact on clinical practice and policy formation. As pressure increased toward ensuring an evidence-based practice across diverse contexts and disciplines and as the finding of any qualitative research will reflect a piece of the health and disease aspects، being familiar with meta-synthesis in nursing research is very important. This paper discusses the purpose، stages، application، and challenges of meta-synthesis، and strategies for their solution. This review article was carried out by non-time-limited search literatures related to “metasynthesis and nursing” keywords using PubMed، CINAHL، Proquest، Blackwell، Science Direct، SID، and Magiran databases. Finally، 57 articles were included in the range of 1984 to 2012. Meta-synthesis is integrations that offer more than the sum of the individual data sets because they provide new interpretations of the findings. These interpretations are inferences derived from examining all of the articles in a sample as a collective group، presenting findings/interpretations which are not found in any of the articles. Despite existing different approaches to meta-synthesis، evidence synthesis mechanisms are not well suited to consideration of qualitative research. Moreover، qualitative meta-synthesis should not be undertaken by novices. Meta-synthesis can help nurses understand the meaning of relative phenomena and clinical decision making regarding evidence-based practice. The future of meta-synthesis depends on its acceptance and utility in the evidence-based nursing practice. If the results of meta-synthesis provide evidences for the clinical nursing، nursing researchers will embrace this approach more.