VU Systematic Literature Reviews: Formulating keywords for each concept

In the paediatric population, do distraction techniques during immunisation result in less pain and anxiety?

Photo: James Gathany, Judy Schmidt, USCDCP

Formulating keywords for each concept

Once you have identified the most important PICO elements of your research question, the next step is to develop an extensive list of synonyms, related terms, abbreviations and spelling variations, concept by concept. The search terms can be located as a result of your background reading, checking subject-specific dictionaries, encyclopedias, subject headings and text mining tools. 

Concept mapping tools can be particularly useful for this stage. You might start your search broadly, with just a few keywords, and then add more once you see the scope of the literature. 

If the initial search doesn't produce many results, you can play with removing some keywords and adding different terms identified within the literature as the search progresses. The more relevant and appropriate keywords are, the more comprehensive the search strategy will be.

The search template below shows the non-exhaustive list of our keyword suggestions.  

(P)

Paediatric population

during immunization

(I)

Distraction techniques

(C) 

No treatment

(O)

Reduced pain and anxiety

paediatric

pediatric

child

children

infant

toddler

immunization

immunisation

vaccination

needles

injections

distraction

distraction techniques  

distraction intervention

attention

cognitive techniques

listening to music

non-procedure-related talk

behavioural techniques

videotapes

video

games

interactive books

interactive toys

computer

virtual reality

 

pain

anxiety

needle-related pain

immunization pain

immunisation pain

vaccination pain

distress

crying

procedural pain

 

Text mining: Identification of keywords

When developing a comprehensive list of search terms, the following tools may be useful to explore:

For a more comprehensive list of  tools available for mining text visit the JCU Systematic Review Guide.