Scoping review of complexity theory in health services research

Thompson, David S.; Fazio, Xavier; Kustra, Erika; Patrick, Linda; Stanley, Darren

doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1343-4

BMC Health Services Research

Table 2 Study characteristics, application, and attributes of complexity theory in health services research

From: Scoping review of complexity theory in health services research

First author	Year	Country	Setting	Professions involved	Research design	Use of complexity theory	Attributes of complexity theory used
Aita [31]	2005	USA	Primary Care	Physicians	Qualitative—Secondary Analysis of a Comparative Case Study	Data analysis	Attractors
Anderson [57]	1999	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Quantitative—Cross Sectional	Conceptual framework and interpretation of findings	Communication, Connections, Diversity
Anderson [58]	2003	USA	Hospital	Nurses, Pharmacists, and Physicians	Quantitative—Cross Sectional	Conceptual framework	Connections, Diversity, Feedback
Anderson [59]	2003	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Quantitative—Cross Sectional	Conceptual framework	Communication, Connections, Diversity, Self-Organization
Anderson [60]	2004	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Quantitative—Cross Sectional	Conceptual framwork	Connections, Communication, Self Organization
Anderson [32]	2014	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Qualitative—Comparative Case Study	Conceptual framework and interpret findings	Communication, Connections, Diversity, Emergence, Non-Linearity, Self-Organization
Brandstorp [33]	2015	Norway	Primary Care	Nurses and Physicians	Qualitative—Action Research	Data analysis	Attractors, Adaptation, Emergence, Feedback, Self-Organization
Brannon [34]	2009	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Qualitative—Case Study	Data analysis	Agents, Connections, Diversity, Emergence, Feedback, Self-Organization
Buttigieg [35]	2013	Malta	Rehab Hospital	Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Nurses, Pharmacists,	Qualitative—Case Study	Conceptual framework	Unclear
Colón-Emeric [61]	2013	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Quantitative—Cluster Randomized Control Trial	Conceptual framework	Communication, Connections, Diversity, Self-Organization
Colón-Emeric [36]	2006	USA	Long Term Care	Dieticians, Nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists	Qualitative—Case Study	Data analysis	Adaptation, Communication, Diversity, Self-Organization
Cólon-Emeric [37]	2006	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses and Physicians	Qualitative—Comparative Case Study	Conceptual framework	Connections, Communication, Diversity, Learning
Cucolo [38]	2015	Brazil	Hospital	Nurses	Qualitative—Content Analysis	Data analysis	Unclear
Dickinson [62]	2014	USA	Community Health Centres and Primary Care	Physicians	Quantitative—Cluster Randomized Control Trial	Conceptual framework	Adaptation, Connections, Diversity, Learning, Reflection
Eika [39]	2015	Norway	Long Term Care	Nurses	Qualitative—Ethnography	Conceptual framework	Emergence, Learning, Self-Organization
Ellis [40]	2010	United Kingdom	Primary Care	Nurse and Physicians	Qualitative—Comparative Case Study	Interpret findings	Adaptation, Agents, Co-Evolution, Self-Organization
Ellis [71]	2011	United Kingdom	Primary Care	Nursing and Physicians	Mixed Methods—Case Study	Interpret findings	Agents, Co-Evolution, Emergence, Self-Organization
Ellis [41]	2011	United Kingdom	Primary Care	Nursing and Physicians	Qualitative—Case Study	Interpret findings	Adaptation, Agents, Co-Evolution, Self-Organization
Erdek [63]	2004	USA	Hospital	Nurses and Physicians	Quantitative—Prospective Cohort Study	Interpret findings	Unpredictability
Essen [72]	2013	Sweden	Rheumatology Registry	Physicians and Nurses	Mixed Methods—Case Study	Data analysis and interpret findings	Equilibrium, Emergence, Feedback, Self-Organization
Forbes-Thompson [42]	2007	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Qualitative—Case Study	Data analysis	Communication, Connections, Diversity
Ford [73]	2009	USA	Hospital	Nurses	Mixed Methods—Case Study	Interpret findings	Diversity, Emergence, Relationships
Glenn [43]	2014	USA	Hospital	Nurses	Qualitative—Hermeneutic Phenomenology	Conceptual framework and interpret findings	Agents, Decentralized Control, Emergence, Feedback, Non-Linearity, Self-Organization
Haigh [64]	2008	United Kingdom	Hospital	Nurses	Quantitative—Retrospective Statistical Modeling	Equation to predict changes	Attractors, Equilibrium, Non-Linearity
Hilts [44]	2013	Canada	Primary Care	Physicians	Qualitative—Case Study	Data analysis	Communication, Emergence, Reflection
Karemere [45]	2015	Congo	Hospitals	Physicians	Qualitative—Case Study	Data analysis	Agents, Path Depenedency, Transition Phase
Lanham [46]	2009	USA	Primary Care	Physicians	Qualitative—Secondary Analysis Grounded Theory	Data analysis	Agents, Connections, Diversity, Emergence, Learning
Lanham [74]	2013	USA	Hospitals and Community	Nurses	Qualitative—Case Study	Interpret findings	Connections, Learning, Self-Organization
Leykum [65]	2007	USA	Not Applicable	Studies that would include at minimum nurses and physicians	Quantitative—Systematic Review	Classification	Co-Evolution, Connections, Learning, Self-Organization
Longo [47]	2007	Italy	Primary Care	Physicians	Qualitative—Case Study	Conceptual framework and interpret findings	Learning, Relationships
Mash [48]	2008	South Africa	Community Health	Nurses and Physicians	Qualitative—Action Research	Interpret findings	Emergence, Self-Organization, Relationships
Matthews [49]	2007	United Kingdom	Health Trusts	Nurses, Physicians, Pharmacists	Qualitative—Phenomenology	Conceptual framework and intertpret findings	Agents, Diversity, Emergence, Feedback, Non-Linearity, Self-Organization
Miller [50]	2001	USA	Primary Care	Nurses and Physicians	Qualitative—Comparative Case Study	Data analysis	Co-Evolution, Emergence, Self-Organization
Oyeleye [66]	2013	USA	Hospital	Nurses	Quantitative—Cross-Sectional	Conceptual framework	Agents, Non-Linearity, Relationships
Pitkäaho [67]	2015	Finland	Hospital	Nurses	Quantitative—Retrospective	Conceptual framework	Feedback, Non-Linearity, Relationships
Piven [51]	2006	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Qualitative—Case Study	Data analaysis	Communication, Connections, Diversity
Provost [52]	2015	USA	Hospitals	Nurses, Pharmacists, Physicians	Qualitative—Field Study	Conceptual framework	Communication, Learning, Relationships
Rangachari [53]	2008	USA	Hospital	Physicians	Qualitative—Grounded Theory	Conceptual framework	Attractors, Diversity, Emergence
Rantz [54]	2013	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Qualitative—Unclear	Conceptual framework and data analysis	Connnections, Communication, Emergence, Self-Organization
Rantz [70]	2012	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Quantitative—Randomized Controlled Trial	Conceptual framwork	Communication, Connections, Diversity
Ruhe [55]	2005	USA	Primary Care	Physicians	Qualitative—Case Study	Data analysis	Communication, Connections, Diversity, Emergence, Equilibrium, Feedback
Singh [68]	2004	USA	Primary Care	Nurses and Physicians	Quantitative—Unclear	Conceptual framework	Adaptation, Central Attractors, Communication, Diversity
Sterns [69]	2010	USA	Long Term Care	Nurses	Quantitative—Cross Sectional	Classification	Agents, Unpredictability
Tsasis [56]	2012	CAN	Health Care System	Nurses and Physicians	Qualitative—Unclear	Data analysis	Agents, Co-Evolution, Diversity, Emergence, Non-Linearity, Self-Organization

Note: Only the professions outlined in our elegibility criteria are reported in Table 2

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