Research Priorities in Pediatric Palliative Care: A Delphi Study

For which topic were research priorities identified?

pediatric palliative care

In which location was the research priority setting conducted?

North America - Canada

Why was it conducted at all?

Pediatric palliative care is in creasingly recognized to be a specialized type of care requiring specific skills and knowledge, yet, as found in several countries, there is little available research evidence on which to base care.

What was the objective?

to achieve consensus among palliative care practitioners and researchers regarding the identification of pertinent lines of research

What was the outcome?

a ranking list of 14 research questions

How long did the research prioritization take?

No information provided.

Which methods were used to identify research priorities?

Delphi

How were the priorities for research identified exactly?

Step 1: Delphi round 1: participants were asked to identify five research priorities they believed were especially relevant for advancing knowledge in pediatric palliative and end-of-life care. Step 2: data processing: review of submissions for overlap and duplicate content, content analysis to identify categories. Step 3: Delphi round 2: survey with 74 research questions along 11 categories, participants were asked to rate importance of each question from their perspective in practice. Step 4: Delphi round 3: survey with 14 research questions that reached consensus in round 2, participants were asked to identify five research priorities

Which stakeholders took part?

Researchers, nurses, physicians, social workers, medical anthropologists. Delphi round 1: 16 participants. Delphi round 2: 15 participants. Delphi round 3: 14 participants.

How were stakeholders recruited?

Purposeful sampling was used. PEDPALNET identified a list of experts in the field. In addition, the investigators contacted the Canadian Network of Palliative Care for Children, which then forwarded an invitation to its members to participate in the study.

Were stakeholders actively involved or did they just participate?

Stakeholders were mere participants of the research prioritization process; they were not actively involved in the process.