Content Analysis Application in Nursing: A Synthetic Knowledge Synthesis Meta-Study

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how synthetic content analysis can effectively synthesize nursing research knowledge, highlighting its widespread use, positive trend, and efficiency benefits in meta-studies.

Contribution

It introduces synthetic content analysis as a novel, automated approach for knowledge synthesis in nursing research, improving efficiency and scope.

Findings

Content analysis is widely used in nursing research.

Synthetic content analysis enhances efficiency and automation.

The trend of using content analysis is increasing globally.

Abstract

Theoretical issues: With the explosive growth in the research literature production, the need for new approaches to structure knowledge emerged. Method: Synthetic content analysis was used in our meta-study. Results and discussion: Our meta-study showed that content analysis is frequently used in nursing research in a very wide spectrum of applications. The trend of its use is positive and it is used globally in a variety of research settings. The synthetic content analysis used in our study showed to be a very helpful tool in performing knowledge synthesis, replacing many of the routine activities of conventional synthesis with automated activities this making such studies more economically viable and easier to perform.