LibGuides: NURS 3030: Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing: Step 3: Search Terms & Strategy

STEP 3: Search Terms & Search Strategy

Building a Database Search Strategy for the PICOT Question:

A well-built PICOT question forms the basis of a database search strategy for finding research literature.
Concepts from the PICOT question are used to construct a comprehensive database search strategy with search terms describing each relevant component of the PICOT.
Relevant elements of your PICOT question can be used to develop an initial list of keywords (including synonyms) to use in a database search. The most important parts of a PICOT question for searching are the P, I, and O.
After developing a list of search terms, you can then begin brainstorming your search strategy for combining terms with OR or AND (this is called Boolean logic), and using other techniques such as truncation (i.e. a keyword search for elder* will find articles with the term elder, elders, or elderly) or quotes (i.e. a keyword search for "older adult*" will find articles with that exact phrase)

PICOT Question Example:

In community-dwelling older adults (P), what is the effect of social support (I) compared with usual care (C) on loneliness and isolation (O) within the lifespan (T)?

	PICOT Question	Search Terms - List concepts, synonyms, related terms, broader or narrower terms, and spelling variations	Search Strategy - Combine Search Terms logically with Boolean operators (OR, AND) - Incorporate other techniques such as truncation, quotes, or parentheses
In (P - Patient/Population/Problem)	community-dwelling older adults	community-dwelling older adults elderly geriatric	community-dwelling AND ("older adult" OR elder OR geriatric)
			AND
what is the effect of (I - Intervention/Variable of Interest)	social support	social support social networks social interaction friendships relationships companionship peers	"social support" OR "social network" OR "social interact" OR friend* OR relation* OR companion* OR peer*
			AND
compared with C - Comparison (may be "standard care" or "usual care")	usual care	Not needed as a search term	N/A
			AND
on (O - Outcome)	loneliness and isolation	loneliness lonesome lonely isolation alone aloneness	lone* OR isolat* OR alone*
			AND
within (T - Time)	the lifespan?	Not needed as a search term	N/A