A scoping review of nursing research in West Africa will produce categories of the research interests among West African nurses. In addition, the categories of research will be mapped to the levels of evidence-base per the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence Based Practice criteria, and to the Sustainable Development Goals. Identification of gaps in nursing research to meet primary health problems in West Africa will be made. Nursing research is defined by studies that include at least one nurse in the list of authors of a study. A primary challenge of nursing researchers in West Africa is access to the evidence-base to support and guide research and practice and thus to focus nursing efforts to address pressing health problems. Current evidence-base is limited by unavailable databases, poor internet access and lack of electricity, particularly in low to middle income countries. The World Health Organization provides Hinari (an access point to published research) to selected institutions in low- and middle- income countries. In addition to Hinari, this scoping review will access Libraries Worldwide which includes the following databases: Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, Credo Reference, Humanities International Complete, JSTOR Arts and Sciences I Collection, JSTOR Arts and Sciences IV Collection, JSOTR Business I Collection, JSTOR Business II Collection, JSTOR Business II I Collection, JSTOR Business IV Collection, JSTOR Language and Literature Collection, JSTOR Life Sciences Collection, Nexis Uni, Nursing & Allied Health Database, and WorldCat.org. In addition, reference lists, grey literature, conference proceedings and other resources will be explored to locate nursing studies to capture the nursing research completed in West Africa in the years 2013 to 2018.
Methods:
This literature review will be conducted by a partnership of West African and American nursing researchers using the methodology for scoping reviews originally described by Arksey and O’Malley, 2005; and further explored and tested by Anderson, Allen, Peckham, and Goodwin, 2008; Daudt, Mossel, and Scott, 2013; Davis, Drey, and Gould, 2009; Levac, Colquhoun, and O’Brien, 2010; Parke, Beaith, Slater, and Clarke, 2011; and Pham, Rajic, Greig, Sargeant, Papadopoulos, and McEwen, 2014. Inclusion criteria for data will be that a study/publication has at least one nurse in the list of authors, and be research conducted in West Africa. Charts and tables will depict and summarize the data.
Results:
Results will include studies/publications having at least one nurse in the list of authors and be nursing research conducted in West Africa. Results will be enumerated, summarized and mapped in tables and charts by category of topic and also provide a level of evidence-base per the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence Based Practice criteria, and mapped to applicable Sustainable Development Goals.
Conclusion:
The findings of this scoping review may provide direction for the practice of nurses in West Africa. In addition, these results may aid in future curriculum development of nursing education programs and the continuing education of nurses in West Africa. Neglected research topics may be identified and guide future nursing research in order to strengthen the evidence-base to address West African health problems.