E. Diane Johnson

The aims of this qualitative systematic review were to better understand domestic abuse among South Asian (SA) women in westernized locales and to make evidence-based inferences related to helping services. Thirty English-language research reports met the inclusion criteria. Findings were extracted, assessed for quality, and analyzed using an iterative approach. Based on the results, domestic abuse appears to be grounded in the context of SA mores and the experience of immigration. Situational circumstances and language barriers make it difficult for SA women to reach and utilize helping services. Nurses are urged to consider these barriers as they assist SA immigrant women to enhance their well-being.

Aim.  To report literature search strategies for the purpose of conducting knowledge‐building and theory‐generating qualitative systematic reviews.Background.  Qualitative systematic reviews lie on a continuum from knowledge‐building and theory‐generating to aggregating and summarizing. Different types of literature searches are needed to optimally support these dissimilar reviews.Data sources.  Articles published between 1989–Autumn 2011. These documents were identified using a hermeneutic approach and multiple literature search strategies.Discussion.  Redundancy is not the sole measure of validity when conducting knowledge‐building and theory‐generating systematic reviews. When conducting these types of reviews, literature searches should be consistent with the goal of fully explicating concepts and the interrelationships among them. To accomplish this objective, a ‘berry picking’ approach is recommended along with strategies for overcoming barriers to finding qualitative research reports.Implications.  To enhance integrity of knowledge‐building and theory‐generating systematic reviews, reviewers are urged to make literature search processes as transparent as possible, despite their complexity. This includes fully explaining and rationalizing what databases were used and how they were searched. It also means describing how literature tracking was conducted and grey literature was searched. In the end, the decision to cease searching also needs to be fully explained and rationalized.Conclusion.  Predetermined linear search strategies are unlikely to generate search results that are adequate for purposes of conducting knowledge‐building and theory‐generating qualitative systematic reviews. Instead, it is recommended that iterative search strategies take shape as reviews evolve.

The objective of this article is to create a search tool healthcare professionals can use to retrieve quality foreign language health information to assist in educating patients who are not fluent in English. A Google™ Custom Search Engine (CSE) was devised that will accept English language queries and return results in a specified language. Engines in Vietnamese, Burmese, Russian, Arabic, and Nepalese were constructed, tested, and advertised to clinicians and other personnel on campus. The tool provided a convenient way for local healthcare providers to identify high quality health information materials in five languages and improve communication with local immigrant communities.

This systematic review was conducted to more fully analyze qualitative research findings relating to community-based court-supervised substance abuse treatment for women and to make recommendations regarding treatment enhancement. Five reports of qualitative research met the inclusion criteria. Findings from these reports were extracted and analyzed using constant comparative methods. Women who are referred to court-sanctioned substance abuse treatment programs may initially be reluctant to participate. Once engaged, however, they advocate for a full complement of well-financed comprehensive services. To optimize treatment effectiveness, women recommend gender-specific programs in which ambivalence is diminished, hope is instilled, and care is individualized.

Using a metasynthesis approach, our aim was to articulate new insights relating to the most efficient and effective means of helping homeless women with substance abuse problems to enhance their well-being and become more stably housed. Distorted perceptions of competency, which are shaped by dysfunctional relationships and mental health problems, make it challenging for women with substance abuse problems to resolve homelessness. Women with particularly low or high levels of perceived competency tend to grapple with challenges related to structure and control, trust, and hopelessness. Therapeutic strategies for approaching these women include careful assessment, caring, personalized structure and control, development of interpersonal trust, instillation of hope, and the targeted use of psychotherapeutic agents and counseling. Framing care for homeless women within the context of perceived competency offers a new way of understanding their plight and shaping interventions to more expeditiously move them toward healthy and stable lives.

The purpose of this qualitative systematic review was to explicate attributes of optimal therapeutic strategies for treating incarcerated women who have a history of substance abuse. An expansive search of electronic databases for qualitative research reports relating to substance abuse treatment for incarcerated women was conducted. Nine qualitative research reports comprised the sample for this review. Findings from these reports were extracted, placed into a data analysis matrix, coded, and categorized. Memos were written and strategies for treating incarcerated women with alcohol problems were identified. Therapeutic effects of treatment programs for incarcerated women with substance abuse problems appear to be enhanced when trust-based relationships are established, individualized and just care is provided, and treatment facilities are separate from the general prison environment.