Table 2.
Study eligibility criteria: Modified (PICOS) Framework
| PICOS [34] | Inclusion Criteria | Exclusion Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Participants (P) | • Frail and/or seriously ill adult patients as per definitions for frailty and serious illness (e.g., elderly patients exhibiting physical and/or cognitive impairments, patients with high symptom burden due to acute illness or treatment effects, acute episodic illness, palliative patients; patients susceptible to adverse events including mortality, morbidity, disability, hospitalization, and nursing home admission). |
• Studies where patients were excluded due to frailty of condition (physical and or cognitive) or deemed too ill to participate during acute episodes of serious illness or treatment. • Patients not identified as frail or seriously ill, i.e., survivors, chronic disease (focus on single disease without description of acuity/severity of condition). • Participants from broader community or public engagement (with no descriptors of frailty and serious illness) • Patients for whom there were no descriptors of physical characteristics or cognitive status. • Pediatric and youth patients (< 18 yrs). |
| Phenomenon of Interest (I) | • Engagement of frail and/or seriously ill patients as partners in research, i.e., at the level of involvement, collaboration, empowerment. |
• Engagement of patients as objects of study, i.e., doing research on or to. • Engagement that took the form of informing patients of research activities, or at the level of consultation only. |
| Comparator (C) | No comparator | |
| Outcome (O) |
• Methods and timing of engagement (i.e., stage(s) of research process). • Level of engagement. • Engagement strategies, factors associated with barriers and facilitators to engagement. • Positive and/or negative impacts of engagement on patient(s), researcher(s), research and/or ethical concerns. |
• Primary research outcomes where patients were research participants only. |
| Study Type (S) | • Peer-reviewed qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods studies. |
• Letters. • Commentaries/editorials. • Studies reported in non-peer reviewed journals. • Conference abstracts/ presentations. • Dissertations. • Review articles. |
| Language | No language restrictions. | |