Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34083239›Full record

ArticleBMJ global health2021

Unravelling 'low-resource settings': a systematic scoping review with qualitative content analysis.

Chanel van Zyl, Marelise Badenhorst, Susan Hanekom, Martin Heine

Abstract readScoping Review
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 109 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
109citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

109 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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49 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Chanel van ZylDivision of Physiotherapy, Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-5315-8395
Marelise BadenhorstInstitute of Sport and Exercise Medicine, Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-8443-9173
Susan HanekomDivision of Physiotherapy, Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-5227-9881
Martin HeineInstitute of Sport and Exercise Medicine, Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa mheine@sun.ac.za.ORCID 0000-0003-4131-2863

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThe effects of healthcare-related inequalities are most evident in low-resource settings. Such settings are often not explicitly defined, and umbrella terms which are easier to operationalise, such as 'low-to-middle-income countries' or 'developing countries', are often used. Without a deeper understanding of context, such proxies are pregnant with assumptions, insinuate homogeneity that is unsupported and hamper knowledge translation between settings.

methodsA systematic scoping review was undertaken to start unravelling the term 'low-resource setting'. PubMed, Africa-Wide, Web of Science and Scopus were searched (24 June 2019), dating back ≤5 years, using terms related to 'low-resource setting' and 'rehabilitation'. Rehabilitation was chosen as a methodological vehicle due to its holistic nature (eg, multidisciplinary, relevance across burden of disease, and throughout continuum of care) and expertise within the research team. Qualitative content analysis through an inductive approach was used.

resultsA total of 410 codes were derived from 48 unique articles within the field of rehabilitation, grouped into 63 content categories, and identified nine major themes relating to the term 'low-resource setting'. Themes that emerged relate to (1) financial pressure, (2) suboptimal healthcare service delivery, (3) underdeveloped infrastructure, (4) paucity of knowledge, (5) research challenges and considerations, (6) restricted social resources, (7) geographical and environmental factors, (8) human resource limitations and (9) the influence of beliefs and practices.

conclusionThe emerging themes may assist with (1) the groundwork needed to unravel 'low-resource settings' in health-related research, (2) moving away from assumptive umbrella terms like 'low-to-middle-income countries' or 'low/middle-income countries' and (3) promoting effective knowledge transfer between settings.

Indexed as

Delivery of Health CareDeveloping CountriesAfricaFemaleHumansPovertyPregnancyhealth systemspublic healthqualitative studyreview

Identifiers

PMID34083239
PMCPMC8183220

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.