title: Seeing the forest for the trees: a qualitative synthesis project.
abstract: Although qualitative studies are increasing in the discipline of nursing, their clinical application and knowledge development will be impeded unless the rich understandings revealed in these individual studies can be synthesized. Meta-synthesis is an invaluable method for accumulating knowledge from individual qualitative studies. This article describes a project focusing on qualitative synthesis that the author required her nursing students in a graduate-level research course to complete. In addition, qualitative meta-synthesis is defined, and its benefits are discussed. Then, Noblit and Hare's approach for synthesizing qualitative studies is described. The remainder of the article is devoted to explaining the actual course project and students' evaluation of the project. The benefits of having graduate students conduct a meta-synthesis are many, and as one student shared, "It was a wonderful, very interesting, and challenging way to teach us."
authors.affiliation: University of Connecticut, School of Nursing, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-2026, USA. cheryl.beck@uconn.edu
authors.forename: Cheryl Tatano
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Beck
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D016294:Models, Nursing; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple / Q000523:psychology; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012107:Research Design; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology