Conectar
The aim of this scoping review was to identify hard-to-reach and hidden groups in health-related research and to understand the recruitment methods used with these groups.
The presented scoping review has an exploratory perspectiveand was conducted in accordance with Arksey and O'Malley's framework and the PRISMA-ScR guidelines.
A comprehensive search of CINAHL and MEDLINE databases was performed for studies published up to November 2022. The searches were updated in December 2024.
Relevant papers were identified via specific search terms and inclusion and exclusion criteria. Two authors independently assessed eligible literature and extracted relevant data, which was analysed and synthesised to answer the research questions. The analysis method used was descriptive analysis with quantification.
Overall, 1024 studies were screened. The included studies were published between 2001 and 2022. A total of 41 studies were included in the review. In this data, groups were defined mostly as hard-to-reach and hidden. The groups were divided into eight categories: LGBTQ+ community, intoxicant users, sex workers and their clients, marginalised groups, mental health care seekers and users, impaired persons, people living outside their original home country and victims of abuse or neglect. Recruitment methods were varied, with snowball sampling, respondent-based sampling and websites being the most used.
This review provides insight into the current knowledge on hard-to-reach and hidden study groups. In studies targeting hard-to-reach and hidden groups, the use of concepts is variable and inconsistent.
In clinical nursing practice, it is important to identify hidden and hard-to-reach groups, as the goal of equality is to improve the health and well-being of all individuals, including marginalised groups.
Reporting was guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis ex-tension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR).
No patient or public contribution.
To discuss inter-organisational collaboration in the context of the successful COVID-19 vaccination programme in North Central London (NCL).
An action research study in 2023–2024.
Six action research cycles used mixed qualitative methods.
Four findings are presented which illustrate inter-organisational collaboration across professional and organisational boundaries: working in the action research group, learning to work as an action research group, working collaboratively in new ways, working outside professional, occupational and organisational silos. These themes are discussed in relation to the literature on interprofessional and inter-organisational collaboration.
The COVID-19 vaccination programme offered a way out of the pandemic. Between December 2020 and February 2022, 2.8 M people were vaccinated by the NCL Vaccination team in an example of inter-organisational collaboration between science, health and community. Staff on the vaccination programme worked inter-organisationally in new ways to achieve this. In NCL several thousand local residents joined the NHS to work with healthcare professionals including nurses, nursing associates and students to deliver the programme in new ways which are illustrative of inter-organisational collaboration.
No PPI within this study.
The implications for the profession and for healthcare organisations of the findings are that, in contrast to traditional ways of working which have been entrenched in silos of professional knowledge and expertise, health professionals are able to work in new ways and find inter-organisational work satisfying. This has implications for patients as it has the potential to improve communication between very different organisations and as the vaccination programme shows, results in successful public health vaccination rates.
This study set out to create a public resource for learning (for future pandemics or other works of national effort) to commemorate the collaborative efforts of the diverse vaccination workforce and volunteers involved in the programme. Participation in the COVID-19 vaccination programme had a profound effect on NHS clinical and professional staff, on partners across business and volunteer organisation in North Central London and on volunteers from the public in North Central London. Inter-organisation collaboration has been sustained after the delivery of the vaccination programme in North Central London; innovative ways of working have been introduced in the local community to deliver ongoing vaccinations and wider prevention activities and the partnership between academia and clinical practice. The research findings have had an impact on the research participants and the wider public through the website created as a public resource to commemorate the COVID-19 vaccination programme in North Central London.
The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies (COREQ) was used as a guide throughout data collection and analysis.
The public were involved as participants in this study. They did not participate in the study design.
FreshRSS 