LibGuides: Qualitative Research: PEO for Qualitative Questions

PEO: Answering a Qualitative Question

PEO is an acronym that can help you create a search strategy for finding research to answer a qualitative research question.

Patient, Population or Problem you are investigating
Exposure to an illness, a risk factor, screening, rehabilitation service, etc.
Outcome or themes include experiences, attitudes, feelings, improvement in condition, mobility, responsiveness to treatment, care, quality of life or daily living.

Example of PEO in Action

What are the attitudes of health professionals towards caring for older patients with dementia in an acute setting?

	Main concept	Boolean search using combined terms
P Patient or Problem	Health professionals working in an acute setting	(Acute care OR acute setting OR hospital* OR inpatient* OR ward) AND (Nurs OR professional* OR practitioner* OR staff OR personnel)
E Exposure	Caring for older patients with dementia	Dementia OR alzheimer*
O Outcome	Attitudes of heath professionals towards older dementia patients	Attitude* OR opinion* OR perception* OR perspective* OR belief*

FINAL BOOLEAN SEARCH:

(Acute care OR acute setting OR hospital* OR inpatient* OR ward*) AND (Nurs* OR professional* OR practitioner* OR staff OR personnel) AND (Dementia OR alzheimer*) AND (Attitude* OR opinion* OR perception* OR perspective* OR belief*)