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Literature searching and finding evidence

Introductory guide for School of Health & Medical Sciences students

Identify the key concepts of your topic using a framework

Determining the key concepts of your topic will help establish you search terms. Frameworks like PICO and PEO are widely used in health research to help identify the key concepts of a topic, and to structure a literature review.

PICO

The PICO framework is typically used for topics involving an intervention. You divide your topic into four separate concepts:

  • Patients/Population/Problem you want to focus on
  • Intervention(s) you want to examine
  • Comparisons you may want to use*
  • Outcomes you are hoping to achieve.

* If you don't have a comparison that's okay, you can leave out that element (example 2 below).

 

Example 1: 'A comparison of the effectiveness of exercising versus a healthy diet in reducing obesity in children'
Your PICO would look like this:
The search terms you need to use relate to these concepts: children, exercise, diet and (reducing) obesity.
The terms comparison, effectiveness, versus are generic and can be excluded from your search.

 

Example 2: 'The effectiveness of managing lifestyle including exercise and healthy diet in reducing obesity in adults'
Your PICO would look like this:
The search terms you need to use relate to these concepts: adult, lifestyle | exercise | diet and (reducing) obesity.

 

PEO

The PEO framework can be useful for qualitative topics. You break down your topic into three separate concepts:

  • Population you want to focus on
  • Exposure (the issue you are interested in)
  • Outcomes or themes you want to examine.

 

Example: 'The quality of life of carers for people with dementia'
Your PEO would look like this:
The search terms you need to use relate to these concepts: carers, dementia and quality of life.

 

Don't worry if your topic doesn't fit exactly into any of these frameworks at the start. If you focus on the key concepts of your topic, you are following the right approach - and you can adjust your framework later.