A narrative summary provides a brief synopsis of the appraised evidence in a literature review. (Khangura et al., 2012) It can be included as part of a scoping review, or, in a systematic review where there is a lack of heterogeneity of available data for a full meta-analysis. (Campbell M, et al., 2017).
According to Cochrane Handbook (Higgins, JPT., et al., 2022, the narrative summary within a Cochrane Systematic Review..:
"... should give readers an understanding of how the included studies vary in terms of design, number of participants, and important effect modifiers outlined in the protocol (e.g. populations and settings, interventions, comparators, outcomes and funding sources)". (Higgins, JPT., et al., 2022, Ch.iii.)
Campbell, M., Katikireddi, S. V., Sowden, A., McKenzie, J. E., & Thomson, H. (2018). Improving Conduct and Reporting of Narrative Synthesis of Quantitative Data (ICONS-Quant): protocol for a mixed methods study to develop a reporting guideline. BMJ open, 8(2), e020064. Full text PDF
Ferrari, R. (2015). Writing narrative style literature reviews. Medical Writing, 24(4), 230-235. Full Text
Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.3 (updated February 2022). Cochrane, 2022. Full Text
| Ogeil, R. P., Chakraborty, S. P., Young, A. C., & Lubman, D. I. (2020). Clinician and patient barriers to the recognition of insomnia in family practice: a narrative summary of reported literature analysed using the theoretical domains framework. BMC family practice, 21(1). Full text |
Systematic Review with Narrative Summary
Hubbard, G., Gorely, T., Ozakinci, G., Polson, R., & Forbat, L. (2016). A systematic review and narrative summary of family-based smoking cessation interventions to help adults quit smoking. BMC family practice, 17, 73. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-016-0457-4 Full text
Michalek-Zrabkowska, M., Martynowicz, H., Wieckiewicz, M., Smardz, J., Poreba, R., & Mazur, G. (2021). Cardiovascular Implications of Sleep Bruxism-A Systematic Review with Narrative Summary and Future Perspectives. Journal of clinical medicine, 10(11), 2245. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10112245 Full text
Scoping Review with Narrative Summary
Cowdell, F, Dyson, J, Sykes, M, Dam, R, Pendleton, R. How and how well have older people been engaged in healthcare intervention design, development or delivery using co-methodologies: A scoping review with narrative summary. Health Soc Care Community. 2022; 30: 776– 798. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13199 Full text
References
Campbell M, Katikireddi SV, Sowden A, et al. Improving Conduct and Reporting of Narrative Synthesis of Quantitative Data (ICONSQuant): protocol for a mixed methods study to develop a reporting guideline. BMJ Open 2018;8:e020064. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2017-020064 Full text PDF
Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.3 (updated February 2022). Cochrane, 2022. Full Text
Khangura, S., Konnyu, K., Cushman, R. et al. Evidence summaries: the evolution of a rapid review approach. Syst Rev 1, 10 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/2046-4053-1-10 Full text