Mental Health Scrutiny and Assurance Evidence Review

Appendix 1: Additional information relating to methods

The literature included UK and international evidence pertaining to governance, scrutiny and assurance methods including but not limited to; internal audit, data collection, early issue detection and escalation, patient feedback and wider use of lived experience data collection, accountability, co-ordination and intelligence sharing practices. Literature was limited to English language, full-text and articles published since 2002 to maximise relevancy to the Scottish context. Literature was identified through the systematic search of relevant databases indexed by a tailored string of search terms combining mesh headings, key words and exploding terms. The search strategy balanced specificity, to ensure the identified records were highly relevant to the review, and sensitivity, to limit the number of unrelated records identified in the search process.

A global assessment of study quality was undertaken. Strong studies included elements of transparency, reflexivity, clear descriptions of methodology, methods of data collection, analysis, and an overall fit with regards to the research questions and the design of the project.