Unravelling ‘low-resource settings’

A systematic scoping review with qualitative content analysis

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21879490
AutoresChanel van Zyl (0000-0001-5315-8395, Stellenbosch University), Marelise Badenhorst (0000-0001-8443-9173, Stellenbosch University), Susan Hanekom (0000-0001-5227-9881, Stellenbosch University), Martin Heine (0000-0003-4131-2863, Stellenbosch University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen6
Número6
Páginase005190
Fecha de publicación2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBMJ Global Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2059-7908 • E-ISSN: 2059-7908
EditorialBMJ (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005190
PMID34083239
OpenAlexW3164860355
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas27
Referencias citadas75

INTRODUCTION: The 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. METHODS: A 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. RESULTS: A 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. CONCLUSION: The 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

Business · Content analysis · Geography · Health care · Health services research · Knowledge management · Knowledge translation · MEDLINE · Multidisciplinary approach · Political science · Public health · Qualitative research · Scopus · Service delivery framework · Social science · Sociology · Systematic review · Computer Science · Global Health and Surgery · Global Health Workforce Issues · Health Policy Implementation Science · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Rehabilitation